Cuyahoga scrap tow set for July 28

The final voyage of the M/V Cuyahoga is scheduled for July 28, 2025 (weather permitting). She will depart the shipyard in Ashtabula under tow, bound for Marine Recycling Corp. in Port Colborne, Ontario, where she will be dismantled.

The tow will be handled by McKeil Marine tugs Molly M1 and Wyatt M.

The information was posted on the Ship Junkies – Lakes, Locks & Rivers (LL&R) Facebook page Wednesday and confirmed by MRC owner Wayne Elliott in the comments section.

Cuyahoga is a self-unloading vessel built in 1943. She was one of the oldest Canadian registered ships still in active service on the Great Lakes until a fire broke out March 15, 2024, while off-season work was underway during winter layup at the shipyard in Ashtabula. Previous to this, on May 24, 2023, she had an engine room fire, also in Lake Erie, while the ship was near Pelee Island.

Janey Anderson

Canada to Curb Steel Imports to Soften Blow From US Tariffs

Bloomberg
July 16, 2025
By Jacob Lorinc, Randy Thanthong-Knight and Mathieu Dion

Canada will reduce the amount of foreign steel importers can bring into the country tariff-free, a move to help domestic producers suffering from US President Donald Trump’s levies on the sector.

The government will tighten “tariff rate quota” levels for steel products made in countries that don’t have a free-trade agreement with Canada. Producers from those nations will be able to ship half of last year’s volumes — above that level, a 50% tariff will apply.

Steel-producing countries that have existing trade deals with Canada, such as South Korea, will have more flexibility. They’ll be allowed to ship steel up to 2024 levels before tariffs kick in.

But there won’t be any change right now to tariffs on US steel, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Wednesday. His government is trying to strike a trade deal with the Trump administration ahead of an Aug. 1 deadline.

“The current trade situation with the United States, and unfair trade practices from other countries — that combination guts our steel industry,” Carney said at a press conference at a steel manufacturing plant in Hamilton, Ontario. “For Canada to build big things again, we need our steel industry to advance, not retreat.” 

Shares of Algoma Steel Group Inc. jumped 4.5% in Toronto, the biggest gain in a month.

Canada’s steel producers have warned of dramatic job cuts after Trump hiked import taxes on foreign steel and aluminum to 50%. Already, the industry says it has significantly reduced shipments and faced close to 1,000 job losses.

Canada has so far decided not to match those tariffs, keeping its retaliatory tax on US steel products at 25%.

Carney said the US trade deals with other countries are going to include “very high tariffs” and that may push steel products into Canada’s comparatively open market. “It’s important that we protect our market from those secondary effects,” he said.

Catherine Cobden, chief executive officer of the Canadian Steel Producers Association, told BNN Bloomberg Television that the government measures are “a big move forward.”

She applauded Carney’s decision to apply a 25% surtax on steel imports from all countries — except the US — that contain steel melted and poured in China. “It is huge,” she said about China’s production, with “hundreds of millions of tons of steel that they produce, that they do not need, that they then dump in markets like Canada’s.”

The federal government will also change its procurement rules to require companies that have contracts with the federal government to buy steel from Canadian producers.

On Wednesday, the government also laid out efforts to help workers that have faced job cuts since tariffs were imposed. Canada will deploy C$70 million ($51 million) to provide training and income support for as many as 10,000 affected steel workers. It’s also providing C$1 billion to a fund designed to help steel firms advance new projects.

“We have the potential to become our own best customer for steel, but we will lose that ability if we don’t manage the profound transformation now underway in the industry,” said Carney.

Milwaukee Clupper to become 48-room ‘boatel’ on Muskegon Lake

MUSKEGON, MI – The preservation association of the S.S. Milwaukee Clipper is raising money to help transform the Queen of the Great Lakes into a 48-room floating hotel, or “boatel.”

Among the 48 rooms are 36 staterooms for which the preservation association has opened sponsorship opportunities to finance the restoration. A $1,500 sponsorship covers the cost of restoring one room but also allows the sponsor to have their name, or the name of a loved one engraved on a custom plaque.

The extent of the work includes repairing floor damage and sanding down and repainting the walls, Brock Johnson, director of operations for the Milwaukee Clipper Preservation Association, said.

“With a little bit of hard work, that $1,500 covers the entire restoration of the room,” he said.

The remainder of the nearly $100,000 renovation, which includes repainting hallways and common spaces, will be financed by dollars raised from events, Johnson said. The association has about 30 volunteers working on the restoration.

Greg Borgman, who sits on the Milwaukee Clipper events committee, sold five staterooms within the past week and has been recruiting friends to join the preservation effort.

“My goal is to be one of the conduits to get every one of the rooms done,” he said. “This stuff really gets done at ground level, so what I want to do is find people who are doers.”

Layouts of the staterooms include two bunk beds, three bunk beds or two bunk beds and one double bed. State guests will use the main restrooms and showers located at the grand staircase, but each room will have a sink with running water, plus electricity and ventilation.

“It’s kind of a fancy way of camping,” Johnson said. “You have your own room with beds all set up, but we have shared bathrooms and shared showers.”

Guests who want to pay the middle-tier price, however, can book one of six rooms with their own private bathrooms. The largest suite available will be the Tionesta suite, named after one of the Clipper’s sister ships, the S.S. Tionesta of 1902. It will have a queen bed, a full bathroom, a pullout couch, table and TV.

Staterooms are expected to cost $75-$80 per night. Mid-range rooms will be about $125 per night. The captain’s and chief engineer’s rooms will offer more space and go for about $150 per night. Two luxury suites will run from $175-$200 per night.

The 120-plus-year-old ship has numerous amenities for hotel guests to enjoy a whole weekend of food and activities without ever having to leave the vessel, including three bars, two restaurants and a dance floor that hosts concerts.

Toward the bow of the ship is a private lounge exclusively for guests with a bar area and seating inside and out on the deck.

The historic soda bowl will remain open on weekends for hotel guests and the general public to buy ice cream, floats, sundaes and more. When the hotel opens, the soda bowl will serve breakfast for guests and the 185-seat cafeteria will serve lunch and dinner.

“We’re going to have Muskegon’s only restaurant on the water. Not next to the water. On the water,” Johnson said.

The boatel is expected to begin operation in about two years. Renovating the ship into a hotel resort is easy enough, but the preservation association is faced with the larger task of finding a new permanent home for the vessel. Where it is docked currently along a narrow strip of shoreline at 2098 Lakeshore Drive isn’t ideal to have multiple guests.

Launched in 1904 as the S.S. Juniata, the 361-foot passenger and package freight steamer serviced the Great Lakes from Buffalo, N.Y. to Duluth, Minn. It was retired in 1937 after new safety requirements for passenger vessels made its wooden superstructure obsolete, according to the Milwaukee Clipper Preservation Association.

At the time of publishing, there are about 16 staterooms left in need of a sponsor, Johnson said. People who want to donate can visit milwaukeeclipper.com/stateroom-sponsorship.

Read more and view photos at the MLive link: https://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/2025/07/historic-great-lakes-ship-to-become-48-room-boatel-on-muskegon-lake.html

National Museum of the Great Lakes Unveils

New Exhibit “Every Boat Tells Our Story”

Toledo, OH – The National Museum of the Great Lakes recently opened Every Boat Tells Our Story, a permanent exhibit that invites visitors to step inside the battles, triumphs, and everyday labors that have defined the Inland Seas for centuries.

Housed in the museum’s newly completed World Group Foundation Gallery, the exhibit combines artifacts with hands-on experiences:

• 16 meticulously crafted model boats — 12 from the Bob Sellers Collection — trace the evolution of Great Lakes shipbuilding, from schooners and modern freighters to a canoe and fish tug.
• A full-scale pilothouse from the St. Marys Challenger—considered the world’s longest continuously operating vessel—offers a year-round accessible glimpse into life on the Lakes.
• Interactive profiles spotlight the people who changed the lakes’ history, including civil-rights pioneer Sarah Elizabeth Ray, who fought—and won—a landmark Supreme Court case after being denied passage aboard the Boblo Boat Columbia in 1945.

Funded in part by the World Group Foundation and the Schoonmaker Foundation, the gallery pairs model boats, archival photos, oral histories, and interactive displays to illuminate both well-known and overlooked stories of innovation, immigration, and perseverance.

“Every artifact here—whether a hand-built model or a copper ingot—carries a human story,” added Carrie Sowden, NMGL director of archaeology and research. “Our goal is to honor those stories and inspire the next generation to invest in the future of our region and find their own Great Lakes story.”

Every Boat Tells Our Story is included with regular museum admission and is open daily (10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Monday–Saturday; noon – 5 p.m. Sunday). Tickets and membership information are available at nmgl.org or by calling 419-214-5000.

NMGL

Exhibit explores true-crime mysteries of the Great Lakes

BLADE STAFF
Jul 16, 2025 11:09 AM

The Dark Waters exhibition at the National Museum of the Great Lakes affords visitors a glimpse into the murky depths of true-crime mysteries of the Great Lakes.

“Dark Waters exposes the hidden currents beneath our region’s maritime story,” said Chris Gillcrist, NMGL emeritus director and curator of the exhibit.

The exhibition, which runs through Oct. 31, explores the Great Lakes’ shadowy past — from blazing shipboard tragedies to Prohibition-era violence — revealing how events helped shape the communities that line the shore.

Among other tales, the exhibit explores the stories of:

• SS Noronic Inferno: In 1949, a late-night fire aboard the passenger steamer while docked in Toronto claimed 118 lives and raised enduring questions about safety and accountability.
• Bootlegging and the Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre: In the 1920s the Great Lakes served as America’s busiest smuggling corridor during Prohibition, fueling organized crime that culminated in Chicago’s still-unsolved gangland massacre.

Presented by Buckeye Broadband and The Blade, the exhibit is included with regular museum admission and is free for NMGL members.

First Published July 16, 2025, 11:09 a.m.

ISMA Grand Lodge Convention Jan. 28-Feb. 1 in Duluth

Tickets On Sale for MHSD Detroit River Cruise

Join members of the Marine Historical Society of Detroit aboard the passenger vessel Diamond Belle for a three-hour cruise from 1-4 p.m. Sunday, September 14, on the Detroit River.

We will do our best to get up close to freighter traffic. Snacks and refreshments will be available on the boat, which leaves from the Cullen Plaza at the foot of Rivard Street (1340 Atwater St.) Detroit.There is parking at Cullen Plaza (which often fills up early) and there is street and garage parking nearby.

Tickets are $28.50 (at the dock $30 cash or check only if space is still available). To buy tickets by mail, send a check, payable to the Marine Historical Society of Detroit, to MHSD Cruise, 1020 Iroquois St., Detroit, MI 48214. Late orders will not be mailed; they will be held for you at the dock. To pay by credit or debit card, go to www.brownpapertickets.com/event/6672663.

No refunds after September 7. We are limiting the number to 100 passengers so there will be plenty of room to move about the boat. Reserve now!

Marine Historical Society of Detroit