The S.S. Badger, along with the Pere Marquette 41 and its tug, Undaunted, have been sold to a family-operated shipping company based out of Middleburg Heights, Ohio. Interlake Holding Company announced today the purchase of Lake Michigan Carferry Company and Pere Marquette Shipping Company. The acquisition signals the creation of a new business entity, Interlake Maritime Services, which will manage the new businesses along with The Interlake Steamship Company and its fleet of nine freighters.
Interlake Holding Company announced today the purchase of the assets of Pere Marquette Shipping Company and Lake Michigan Car Ferry Company in an acquisition that includes two working Great Lakes vessels, the Articulated Tug-Barge Undaunted-Pere Marquette 41 and the S.S. Badger, a historic passenger-and-car ferry. The acquisition signals the creation of a new business entity, Interlake Maritime Services, which will manage the new businesses along with The Interlake Steamship Company and its fleet of nine freighters. “This is an exciting day for us and we are thrilled to be welcoming new employees into our Interlake family, new vessel lines into …
An assignment to haul salt cargoes is typically a Great Lakes freighter’s death warrant. As anyone who drives a car on salt-treated roadways knows, salt and metal are a recipe for rust, especially where there’s also moisture. Multiply that by 25,000 tons at a time and it becomes clear why salt service has historically been the final chapter in many a ship’s story before a trip to the scrap yard. So what’s up with Interlake Steamship Co.’s plan to use its new freighter, now being built at Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding in Wisconsin, to haul rock salt from the Cargill mine in Cleveland pretty much as soon as the vessel enters service during the summer of 2022.
The coronavirus pandemic has brought loss, disruption, and dramatic change, but it also has inspired many Michigan students to find unique ways to help make a difference in the lives of others. Two high school students, who bonded over a love of the Great Lakes Region and freighters, wanted to show crew members aboard those fleets that their essential work was appreciated by creating Christmas care packages.
November 2, 2020 – WXYZ
A U.S.-flagged bulk carrier is being built in the Great Lakes region for the first time since 1983. Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding of Sturgeon Bay, Wis., is midway through the two-year project for Interlake Steamship Co., based in Middleburg Heights, Ohio.
June 24, 2020 – Maritime Professional
Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding and The Interlake Steamship Company hosted a ceremonial keel laying Tuesday, celebrating the historic start of assembly on the first U.S.-flagged Great Lakes bulk carrier built in more than 35 years.
Along the 1,600-mile, ice gray arch of the St Lawrence Seaway, the 2020 Great Lakes commercial shipping season will lurch back to life on March 25 when the Soo Locks at Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. reopen. The ceremonial opening signals a passage with passable ice and the 114th Great Lakes season for its fleet of 45 venerable lakers. Most of these huge self-loading freight haulers are at least 50 years old, rust free, and fit; American steel sailing on a freshwater sea.
Lakers are the stars of the Great Lakes. The up-to-1,000-foot freighters are eye-catching, mesmerizing, romantic vestiges of industrial glory days. And we can’t get over their size, whether they’re powering through Lake Erie or pivoting around the hair-pin curves of the Cuyahoga River. Interlake Steamship Co., which is based in Middleburg Heights and owns nine lakers, celebrates the beauty of the ships in its annual calendar.
