Park Service Asks for Funds to Replace Isle Royale Ferry Ranger III

According to the Wall Street Journal, the White House is proposing the largest upgrade in decades to the country’s fleet of noncombat ships. Government agencies are requesting funds in the 2027 fiscal year budget for cargo ships, vehicle carriers, cutters and a research vessel. That includes the National Park Service.

The NPS has pitched a new ferry to replace the aging Ranger III that crosses Lake Superior between Houghton, Michigan, and Isle Royale National Park. The Ranger III was built in 1958 and is the largest piece of moving equipment owned and operated by the National Park Service, and the largest passenger ferry serving the island park.

This isn’t the first time the NPS has requested a new vessel, but funding for it has never survived the budget process. The WSJ reports there is now strong bipartisan support in Congress to upgrade the country’s aging non-military fleet.

“This is the first time I’ve seen a substantial nonwarship procurement in one big budget,” said Brent Sadler, a maritime specialist at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. Sadler said the requests are the largest he has seen for noncombat vessels since the Vietnam War.

The funding requests in the proposed budget released last week must be approved by Congress. Some maritime industry executives are hopeful that strong bipartisan support for shipbuilding in recent years will overcome spending concerns.

Most of the requested vessels would expand the number of noncombat ships the U.S. can turn to in wartime to carry ammunition, cargo and vehicles and to refuel and rearm warships at sea. Others, such as an Antarctic research vessel for the National Science Foundation, could serve geopolitical goals as global tensions intensify around frozen waterways.

Jerry Hendrix, who leads the Office of Management and Budget’s shipbuilding office, said the overall goal of the requests is to send a demand signal to U.S. shipyards that orders are on their way and that yards should modernize and expand facilities. “This was part of a broader strategy to add capacity and competition,” he said.

The Navy is requesting a 46% increase over last year’s shipbuilding budget to $65.8 billion. The request includes funding for 18 combat vessels and 16 noncombat ships such as firefighting boats, a hospital ship and specialized ships to carry fuel, equipment, vehicles and supplies.

Other government departments that requested shipbuilding funds include the U.S. Coast Guard, which requested three vessels for inland waterways, and the U.S. Army, which requested two new landing craft. The National Park Service said it needs a ferry for services between Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and Isle Royale National Park. The route is currently s

The Transportation Department’s Maritime Administration also requested $168 million to more than double funding for a program that pays stipends to private companies that operate U.S.-flagged tankers. The payments cover the extra cost of employing American crew and, in return, companies commit to making their ships available to the government during wars or national emergencies.

Noncombat ships are the unglamorous workhorses of military deployments. Maritime industry specialists say the ships have long been overlooked as administrations prefer to spend on more exciting vessels such as submarines and battleships. According to a Navy report last year, the average age of vessels in the Navy’s Military Sealift Command—a roughly 140-vessel fleet of government and commercially owned logistics support ships—is 40 years old.

Wall Street Journal