Lake freighters, or lakers, are bulk carrier vessels that operate on the Great Lakes of North America. These vessels are traditionally called boats, although classified as ships.
MV Paul R. Tregurtha is a Great Lakes-based bulk carrier freighter. She is the current Queen of the Lakes, an unofficial but widely recognized title given to the longest vessel active on the Great Lakes. Launched as William J. De Lancey, she was the last of the 13 "thousand footers" to enter service on the Great Lakes, and was also the last Great Lakes vessel built at the American Ship Building Company yard in Lorain, Ohio.
MV Indiana Harbor is a very large diesel-powered lake freighter owned and operated by the American Steamship Company. This vessel was built in 1979 at Bay Shipbuilding Company, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin and included self-unloading technology.
MV American Integrity is a ship built in 1978 by Bay Shipbuilding Company in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. She is one of the thirteen 1,000 footers in the Great Lakes laker fleet. She was originally built as Lewis Wilson Foy and was renamed Oglebay Norton in 1991. She was renamed again after the sale to American Steamship Company in June, 2006. On September 24, 2017 the American Integrity broke the all-time record for the largest load through the Soo Locks with 75,095 tons of iron ore beating the record held for the last two weeks by the Edwin H. Gott. She was loaded to a draft of 29 ft 7 in on her way to Indiana Harbor.
The Robert S. Pierson is a bulk carrier built for and operated on the North American Great Lakes. The vessel went through several owners and several names. In 2007 she was sold to Lower Lakes Towing, a Canadian company. Her last namesake was Robert Scott Pierson, the founder of the shipping firm Soo River Company. An earlier vessel named after Pierson operated from 1980 to 1982.
The SS St. Marys Challenger is a freight-carrying vessel operating on the North American Great Lakes built in 1906. Originally an ore boat, she spent most of her career as a cement carrier when much larger ore boats became common. After a 107-year-long working career as a self-propelled boat, she was converted into a barge and paired with the tug Prentiss Brown as an articulated tug-barge. Before conversion, she was the oldest operating self-propelled lake freighter on the Great Lakes, as well as being one of the last freight-carrying vessels on the Great Lakes to be powered by steam engines.
Bay Shipbuilding Company (BSC) is a shipyard and dry dock company in Sturgeon Bay, Door County, Wisconsin. As of 2015, Bay Ships was a subsidiary of Fincantieri Marine Group and produces articulated tug and barges, OPA-90 compliant double hull tank ships and offshore support vessels. It also provides repair services to the lake freighter fleet. In the past the shipyard located in Sturgeon Bay has operated under several different names and traces its history back to 1918.
M/V Burns Harbor is a very large diesel-powered Lake freighter owned and operated by the American Steamship Company. This vessel was built in 1980 at Bay Shipbuilding Company, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin and included self-unloading technology.
MV American Courage is a diesel-powered lake freighter owned and operated by Grand River Navigation. This vessel was built in 1979 at Bay Shipbuilding Company, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin and included self-unloading technology.
M/V Walter J. McCarthy Jr. is a very large diesel-powered lake freighter owned and operated by the American Steamship Company. This vessel was built in 1977 at Bay Shipbuilding Company, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin and included self-unloading technology.
MV Edwin H. Gott is a very large diesel-powered lake freighter owned and operated by Great Lakes Fleet, Inc, a subsidiary of Canadian National Railway. This vessel was built in 1979 at Bay Shipbuilding Company, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, and included self-unloading technology.
M/V Sam Laud is a diesel-powered Lake freighter owned and operated by the American Steamship Company. This vessel was built in 1975 at Bay Shipbuilding Company, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin and included self-unloading technology.
MV John J. Boland is a diesel-powered lake freighter owned and operated by the Buffalo-based American Steamship Company (ASC). This vessel was built in 1973 at Bay Shipbuilding Company, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. Initially named Charles E. Wilson, the vessel was renamed to its current name in 2000.
M/V American Mariner is a diesel-powered Lake freighter owned and operated by the American Steamship Company (ASC). This vessel was built in 1980 at Bay Shipbuilding Company, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin and included self-unloading technology.
M/V H. Lee White is a diesel-powered Lake freighter owned and operated by the American Steamship Company (ASC). This vessel was built in 1974 at Bay Shipbuilding Company, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin and included self-unloading technology.
The Frank C. Ball was an American Bulk carrier that was built by the Great Lakes Engineering Works of Ecorse, Michigan, for the Globe Steamship Company of Duluth, Minnesota. She was launched on December 9, 1905 as hull #14. She was powered by a 1,700 horsepower triple expansion steam engine and fueled by two coal-fired Scotch marine boilers. Even though Ball was built in 1905, she only entered service in 1906.
James L. Kuber is a self-unloading articulated barge owned by Rand Logistics and operated by Grand River Navigation. The vessel was originally named Reserve and was constructed as a bulk carrier, being launched in 1952. It was converted to a barge in 2007.
SS Edward L. Ryerson is a steel-hulled American Great Lakes freighter that entered service in 1960. Built between April 1959 and January 1960 for the Inland Steel Company, she was the third of the thirteen so-called 730-class of lake freighters, each of which shared the unofficial title of "Queen of the Lakes" because of their record-breaking length. She was not only the last steam-powered freighter built on the lakes but also the last one that was not a self-unloader. Since 2009, she has been in long-term layup in Superior, Wisconsin. She is one of only two American-owned straight deck lake freighters, the other being John Sherwin, built in 1958.
The SS Alpena is a lake freighter. She was built in 1942 by the Great Lakes Engineering Works in Ecorse, Michigan, to carry iron ore. She was originally owned by the Pittsburgh Steamship Company, a subsidiary of United States Steel. After also hauling grain in addition to ore in the 1960s and 1970s, the ship was put into storage in 1982.
Ore Steamship Company and the Ore Navigation Corpoartion were subsidiaries of the Bethlehem Steel Company founded in New York City in 1927. Ore Steamship Company was a proprietary company that was founded so Bethlehem Steel could move goods needed by Bethlehem Steel Company. Ore Steamship Company would transport iron ore to the Bethlehem Steel mills on the Atlantic coast. Some ships took steel and steel products to Bethlehem Shipyards. Port of Baltimore was a major Bethlehem Steel port, the dock was 2,200 feet long in order to load and unload three large, 28,000-ton cargo ships at the same time.
United States