New American-Made Great Lakes Vessel for Interlake Steamship Company

The new vessel will require 5,614 short tons of steel for the hull and superstructure, said Todd Thaye, Vice President and General Manager of Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding.

“A majority portion of the steel plate is being provided by ArcelorMittal out of Burns Harbor, Ind.,” said Thaye. “The bulbflats and profiles, which make up the remaining portion of the weight, are being sourced from a variety of sources, some foreign and some domestic.”

The ship will be 639 feet in length and have a 28,000 gross ton capacity. Many bulk carriers on the Great Lakes are 1,000 feet long with a carrying capacity of 68,000 gross tons. The last ship to be added to the Interlake fleet was the 1,013-foot Paul R. Tregurtha in 1981. The smaller size of this vessel “is an outgrowth of listening to and addressing the needs of our customers,” said Barker. The vessel will be well suited to navigating the smaller river harbors along the Great Lakes.

The vessel will meet the latest emission reduction requirements to minimize the environmental impact to the Great Lakes and those who work aboard. The vessel is designed for 7,800 shaft horsepower produced by two EPA Tier 4 certified 16-cylinder Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD) engines and is expected to have a top speed in excess of 15 mph. High-level maneuverability will be ensured by a flap rudder and bow and stern thrusters. The ship will be propelled by a single-screw controllable pitch propeller.

The vessel will have a unique cargo design with large hatches and a cargo hold that will be able to unload bulk materials as well as have the ability to carry project cargo and finished products.

Thirty-five years without a new U.S.-flagged Great Lakes bulk carrier seems like a long time. Barker explained, “In the freshwater Great Lakes, ships have incredible longevity enhanced by the annual investment and maintenance we perform on our ships every winter.” The average lifespan of a laker is 40-50 years, nearly twice that of a saltwater vessel.

“New capacity on the Great Lakes in the U.S. market has been added via Articulated Tug/Barge (ATB) vessels,” said Barker. “ATB’s have a place in the Great Lakes market and are just as capable as ships, but as we looked at the solution that was right for Interlake, we decided a ship would be the best for delivering the capability and capacity our customers were requesting.”

The yet-to-be-named vessel is expected to be completed by mid-2022 and will be the tenth vessel in Interlake Steamship’s fleet. The company has a long relationship with Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding with the shipyard handling repairs and upgrades to Interlake’s fleet.

Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding is located in Sturgeon Bay, Wis., and is an industry leader in the construction, conversion and repair of large ships. Interlake Steamship Company is headquartered in Middleburg Hts., Ohio, and transports around 20 million tons of raw materials annually. Both Fincantieri and Interlake Steamship have a rich history dating back more than 100 years.

“We are excited to construct this historic large-scale bulk carrier on the Great Lakes for Great Lakes operation,” said Thaye. “We are very proud of our long-term relationship with Interlake, and we appreciate their continued confidence in our shipyard and in our shipbuilding team.

“[This project] brings steady employment to the hundreds of women and men we employ from across the region, and the economic benefit to our suppliers and others is widespread,” he added.