USS Beloit prepares for launch, City of Beloit filled with pride

By: Jerel Ballard Apr 18, 2024 Updated Apr 18, 2024

The announcement of the ship’s name came a few years ago, but now, after months of preparation, the USS Beloit is ready to embark on its maiden voyage. The vessel holds special significance as it will be the first commissioned ship in naval service bearing the name of Beloit, Wisconsin.

BELOIT, Wis. (WKOW) — The city of Beloit is set to make waves this summer as a Navy combat ship named after it prepares to set sail for the first time.

The announcement of the ship’s name came a few years ago, but now, after months of preparation, the USS Beloit is ready to embark on its maiden voyage. The vessel holds special significance as it will be the first commissioned ship in naval service bearing the name of Beloit, Wisconsin.

USS Beloit

“We are getting ready to bring a warship to life, and it’s a privilege to get to commission a warship. Not everyone in the Navy gets to do that,” said Commander LeAndra Kissinger.

Commander Kissinger, who will lead the ship’s crew, shared her thoughts with 27 News during her recent visit to the town. Traveling to Wisconsin and preparing for the ship’s departure has been very meaningful for her and her crew.

“Our crew must understand and embraces the values and spirit of this city,” added Kissinger. “Several members have already visited Beloit to immerse themselves in the culture.”

City officials have been preparing for the ship’s departure, organizing events to showcase Beloit’s contributions to the US Navy. As the USS Beloit prepares to sail, it symbolizes not just a vessel of war but a bridge between a city’s legacy and the nation’s maritime.

“This community has had a long history of supporting the military through Fairbanks Morse defense and they make many of the engines that go in Navy ships and they had significant support during World War II, said Sarah Lock, Director of Strategic Communications for the City of Beloit. “For a town of under 37,000 people, to have our name on a Navy ship around the world is incredible.”

USS Beloit is currently located in the Great Lakes and will depart along Lake Michigan before the end of the year. Beloit city officials plan to hold several send-off ceremonies for the community once a date is determined.

Boatnerds picnic, honor their “admiral”

Sault Ste. Marie, MI – The crowd at Thursday’s annual Boatnerd Picnic at Sault Ste. Marie enjoyed sunshine, boat traffic and plenty of grilled burgers, hot dogs, salads, sweet treats and more as they renewed old friendships and made new. Around 75 people attended the event.

The picnic occurs ever year in the last Thursday of June in conjunction with the annual Soo Locks Engineers Day open house the following day.

The event got its start around 1998. It was an outgrowth of the website boatnerd3.jasonbowlerdesign.com/. People thought it would be fun to meet some of the folks they were chatting with online in the real world.

At Thursday’s picnic, the group honored its unofficial leader, or “Admiral,” Lee Rowe, from Gwinn, MI. She was presented with a caricature of herself done by Great Lakes cartoonist Don Lee in recognition of her years of involvement with the annual event.

“It’s because of the friends. We come here because of our friends,” Rowe said. “You are just special,” she told the group. “I am just so honored.”

https://www.9and10news.com/2024/06/27/boatnerds-gather-for-all-things-boats-ahead-of-the-soo-locks-engineers-day/

Make Your Plans Now for Soo Boatnerd Picnic

UPDATE: The freighter-chasing cruise is SOLD OUT!

Join us for the Annual Boatnerd Picnic and Freighter-Chasing Cruise on the St. Marys River during the annual Engineers Day weekend at Sault Ste. Marie June 27-28. Find details on both events here: https://www.boatnerd.com/boatnerd-soo-gathering-june-27-28-2024/

 Engineers Day And Boatnerd Weekend Begins

We hope All have a great weekend And weather is great for you. Enjoy . From the staff at Boatnerd.

Make Your Plans Now for Soo Boatnerd Picnic

UPDATE: The freighter-chasing cruise is SOLD OUT!

Join us for the Annual Boatnerd Picnic and Freighter-Chasing Cruise on the St. Marys River during the annual Engineers Day weekend at Sault Ste. Marie June 27-38. Find details on both events here: https://www.boatnerd.com/boatnerd-soo-gathering-june-27-28-2024/

Start of 2024 Season Marked by Consistency, Significant Uptick in Potash

With the 2024 marine shipping season on the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway in full swing, the early statistics provided by the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation (SLSMC) and Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation (GLS) show that movements of potash (an agricultural fertilizer), iron and steel, and cement are up when compared to the same period (i.e. March to May) last year. Specifically:

• Potash traffic was up 287,000 tonnes, for a total of approximately 335,000 tonnes (a year over year increase of approximately six times);
• Cement traffic was up 77,000 tonnes, for a total of approximately 527,000 tonnes; and
• Shipments of iron and steel were up by 195,000 tonnes year over year, for a total of approximately 580,000 tonnes.

A key member of the Chamber of Marine Commerce (CMC) is HOPA Ports, which saw much of this traffic. Comprised of the Port of Hamilton, which is the largest port in Ontario and the western marine gateway to the Greater Toronto-Hamilton Area, and the Port of Oshawa, which is Durham Region’s gateway to the world, HOPA Ports is a key North American conduit for the commodities that drive agriculture, steelmaking, auto manufacture, and construction.

“The 2024 navigation season is gaining momentum, and we expect volumes will be on par with 2023,” said Ian Hamilton, President and CEO of HOPA Ports. “We’re seeing positive totals for essential materials like steel and cement, which are vital for the construction industry. Development is progressing well at the ports of Hamilton and Oshawa, with the construction of Canada’s largest sugar refinery and the expansion of the flour mill in Hamilton already underway. Additionally, the ongoing construction of the Oshawa grain silo is set to further bolster our agri-food capabilities. These projects are key to growing our agri-food network and building a sustainable supply chain. We also launched our new digitization project using AI-enabled technology to improve the performance of our transportation system.”

In addition to the aforementioned projects, HOPA Ports is also building on its reputation as one of the most significant North American channels for key commodities through special collaborations. Recently, they announced a new agreement with a U.S.–based organization to create a bi-national, low-emission, short sea trade corridor. This new partnership will forge connections between the Port of Oshawa and a new port in Somerset, New York by establishing a multi-modal shipping terminal at the former location of New York’s last coal plant, which retired in 2020.

“The ambitious partnerships and enhancements being undertaken by HOPA Ports show how the marine shipping industry embraces its role as a vital link in the North American supply chain and is actively taking steps to keep our economy strong and quality of life high,” noted Bruce Burrows, President and CEO of the Chamber of Marine Commerce.  “New partnerships, new services, and new technologies are why marine shipping will continue to be the green mode for moving what matters in the most efficient and cost-effective manner for many years to come.”

Chamber of Marine Commerce

Manitowoc Applying for Grant for Possible New Boat

Jun 21, 2024 | 1:00 PM

Local News, Steven Devine

The City of Manitowoc wants to update the Manitowoc Fire Department’s boat fleet.

The common council approved applying for a Federal Emergency Management Agency grant at Monday’s meeting.

A memo from Fire Chief Todd Blaser says the fire department was notified in March this year that there will be no Coast Guard presence in Manitowoc County because of staffing issues with the United States Coast Guard.

Mayor Justin Nickels said on WOMT’s Be My Guest program that if an emergency were to happen, the city would need to call in US Coast Guards stationed in Sheboygan or Sturgeon Bay.

He says while there haven’t been many issues on either Lake Michigan or the Manitowoc River, the city would only be able to provide limited help if an emergency were to happen.

The boat that the city would want would be bigger and more up to date than the two boats they have now.

The anticipated award date is set for September 30th.

Make Your Plans Now for Soo Boatnerd Picnic

UPDATE: The freighter-chasing cruise is SOLD OUT!

Join us for the Annual Boatnerd Picnic and Freighter-Chasing Cruise on the St. Marys River during the annual Engineers Day weekend at Sault Ste. Marie June 27-38. Find details on both events here: https://www.boatnerd.com/boatnerd-soo-gathering-june-27-28-2024/

National Museum Celebrates Ding Schoonmaker Day July 1

Toledo, OH – Join us at the National Museum of the Great Lakes from 10 am – 4 pm Monday, July 1 for a day-long celebration in honor of Ding Schoonmaker, the grandson of Col. James M. Schoonmaker, who played a pivotal role in the restoration of this historic ship. All visitors will receive free admission to Museum Boats with the purchase of a museum-only admission.

Note: Pre-order tickets are not available for July 1. Admission will be walk-in only.

ADMISSION: $11.00 (Museum Only) – Adults (18-64)

$10.00 (Museum Only) – Seniors (65+)

$8.00 (Museum Only) – Youth (6-17)

FREE – Children 5 and under

FREE – GLHS/NMGL Members

Make Your Plans Now for Soo Boatnerd Picnic

UPDATE: The freighter-chasing cruise is SOLD OUT!

Join us for the Annual Boatnerd Picnic and Freighter-Chasing Cruise on the St. Marys River during the annual Engineers Day weekend at Sault Ste. Marie June 27-38. Find details on both events here: https://www.boatnerd.com/boatnerd-soo-gathering-june-27-28-2024/

Federal Indiana makes first inland voyage to the Great Lakes

Federal Indiana (IMO 9975387), built in 2024 for Fednav Ltd. of Montreal, entered the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway for the first on June 22.

Federal Indiana is on its maiden voyage with stops in China and in South Korea where it loaded a cargo of alumina. Part of that cargo was previously unloaded in Trois Rivieres, QC. The ship is now headed to both Hamilton and also Thorold, where it will unload the remaining portion of its cargo.

Federal Indiana was built for Fednav Ltd. in Oshima, Japan at the Oshima Shipbuilding Co. The vessel is 199.98 meters in length and 23.760 meters in width or 656 feet in length and 78 feet in width.

The Federal Indiana is a sistership to the following Fednav Ltd. vessels: Federal Hamilton, Federal Thunder Bay, Federal Ohio and Federal Wisconsin. Thus far, only the Federal Hamilton, and now the Federal Indiana, have made inland trips.. The new vessels all have four deck cranes for unloading and loading bulk cargoes and each are very noticeable for their very large smokestack.

Make Your Plans Now for Soo Boatnerd Picnic

UPDATE: The freighter-chasing cruise is SOLD OUT!

Join us for the Annual Boatnerd Picnic and Freighter-Chasing Cruise on the St. Marys River during the annual Engineers Day weekend at Sault Ste. Marie June 27-38. Find details on both events here: https://www.boatnerd.com/boatnerd-soo-gathering-june-27-28-2024/

Cruise ship docking in Escanaba Sunday

ESCANABA — The Pearl Mist Cruise Ship, owned by Pearl Seas Cruises, is scheduled to dock at Escanaba’s North Shore Marine Terminal & Logistics Dock, located along 1st Avenue North, behind the Escanaba Public Library, at 6:30 a.m. EST on Sunday, June 23. The ship will stay docked in Escanaba all day, with the ship scheduled to depart at approximately 11 p.m. Sunday.

“We are looking forward to welcoming another cruise ship, the Pearl Mist, to Escanaba and to North Shore Marine Terminal this Sunday,” said Nick Kobasic, president of North Shore Marine Terminal & Logistics. “Delta County has become known for the warm hospitality shown to the passengers and crew aboard the cruise ships visiting our area last summer, and we want to encourage everyone to continue the enthusiasm this summer during the Pearl Mist’s visit.”

Sunday’s stop in Escanaba is part of the Pearl Seas “Great Lakes Explorer” 15-day itinerary, which begins in Toronto, and includes stops in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, along with the following ports of call: Cleveland; Detroit; Midland, Ontario, Canada; Parry Sound, Ontario, Canada; Mackinac Island; Sault Ste. Marie; Marquette; Thunder Bay, Ontario; and Duluth, Minn.

For more information on Pearl Seas Cruises, visit  https://www.pearlseascruises.com/pearl-mist.

Fednav adds Federal Wisconsin to its growing Laker-class fleet

Fednav Ltd. of Montreal recently took delivery of another new vessel built at the Oshima Shipbuilding Co. Shipyard in Oshima, Japan –  Federal Wisconsin (IMO 9975404). The Federal Wisconsin is 199.98 meters in length with a beam or width of 23.760 meters or 656 feet in length and 78 feet in width. The ship has four deck cranes on its deck for unloading or loading bulk cargoes. The Federal Wisconsin, along with its other sisterships, Federal Hamilton, Federal Thunder Bay, Federal Indiana and Federal Ohio are all notable for having very large smokestacks.

The Federal Wisconsin has four additional twin sisterships from the same series and class all of which were built at the Oshima Shipbuilding Co. shipyard. The first vessel was the Federal Hamilton (IMO 9975363) in 2023. That vessel first came inland in 2023 and has returned twice in 2024.

In addition, the Federal Thunder Bay (IMO 9975375), built in 2023, the Federal Indiana (IMO 9975387) and the Federal Ohio (IMO 9975399), built in 2024, all have since been added to the Fednav Laker-class fleet of vessels.

Denny Dushane

Make Your Plans Now for Soo Boatnerd Picnic

UPDATE: The freighter-chasing cruise is SOLD OUT!

Join us for the Annual Boatnerd Picnic and Freighter-Chasing Cruise on the St. Marys River during the annual Engineers Day weekend at Sault Ste. Marie June 27-38. Find details on both events here: https://www.boatnerd.com/boatnerd-soo-gathering-june-27-28-2024/

Make Your Plans Now for Soo Boatnerd Picnic

UPDATE: The freighter-chasing cruise is SOLD OUT!

Join us for the Annual Boatnerd Picnic and Freighter-Chasing Cruise on the St. Marys River during the annual Engineers Day weekend at Sault Ste. Marie June 27-38. Find details on both events here: https://www.boatnerd.com/boatnerd-soo-gathering-june-27-28-2024/

Michipicoten Enters Drydock for Inspection

Michipicoten has arrived safely at Superior, WI, and is now in the dry (graving) dock at Fraser Shipyards. Workers are dewatering the dock so the Michipicoten can be inspected.

David Schauer

Polsteam adds 2 more Laker-class vessels

The Polish Steamship Co. (Polsteam) of Szczecin, Poland recently took delivery of a new vessel built in China as part of its Laker-class series of vessels, Polsteam Lebsko (IMO 9971874).

Polsteam Lebsko is 199.99 meters in length with a beam of 23.700 meters or 656 feet in length and 78 feet in width. It is a sistership to two other Polsteam Laker-class vessels recently built in China, Polsteam Dabie (IMO 9971850), which first came to the Great Lakes/Seaway system on May 3. They unloaded cargo in the ports of Picton, Hamilton, Port Colborne and Windsor, ON, before finally loading a cargo from Goderich.

The other vessel, the Polsteam Koprowo (IMO 9971862), departed China  May 12 on their maiden voyage to the Great Lakes/Seaway system carrying steel products that were loaded in China and South Korea and for Hamilton and Windsor.

Denny Dushane

Mark W. Barker: Life Aboard the Great Lakes’
Newest Cargo Ship

Meet the crew that keeps things running, day and night, on the Mark W. Barker: a new vessel designed specifically to navigate the Cuyahoga River.

Cleveland Magazine, Annie Nickoloff

Thursday, June 20, 2024

On a clear Tuesday morning, the Motor Vessel Mark W. Barker slides away from the Cleveland Bulk Terminal near Whiskey Island and works toward the mouth of the Cuyahoga River.

We are stationed in the spacious captain’s deck, positioned near the ship’s stern and four flights of stairs above the main, 639-foot-long deck. Surrounded by charts and logs, captain Alex Weber and wheelsman Zachry Filipiak have their eyes glued to the glistening path in front of the lengthy ship.

a mini-fridge containing a tub of homemade pickled eggs that Filipiak and a friend made a few weeks ago. (He lets us know they’re there for the taking, in case we’re hungry.) Calming soft-rock tunes play lightly in the background; Toto and James Taylor and Uncle Kracker’s “Drift Away” — and, here, the song goes, “I wanna get lost in your rock ‘n’ roll and drift away … ”

Dipping under bridges and passing the Flats’ flashy riverside bars and apartments, the boat creeps steadily, no more than 2 mph, toward an imposing bend.

“Columbus Road can be tricky,” Weber says. “The current can catch you there.”

Weber is self-assured, standing at the main front-facing window of the room, wearing a ball cap and a quarter-zip, sleeves rolled up. Looking outside, the 31-year-old Northeast Ohio native speaks plainly about the day’s route.

“It’s challenging. It’s 6 miles,” Weber says. “Very crooked. Very windy.”

You wouldn’t know it, but he has navigated these 6 miles of the river’s serpentine curves just a handful of times.

“A lot of bridges, a lot of recreational traffic, a lot of commercial traffic,” Weber continues, as a voice from the Coast Guard station crackles over the radio, asking for an estimated time of arrival. “No two days are the same.”

Stepping onto the metal platform outside of the captain’s deck, a breeze drifts over me and the rest of the Mark W. Barker — this newest ship of bulk-carrying business Interlake Steamship Co. fleet of 11 freighters, and just one of three that’s short enough to make it down this tricky river.

The trickiest parts of the route are made a little less thorny by the specifications of the Mark W. Barker, or the “W,” as some of the crew calls it. The boat was designed just a few years ago to navigate the Cuyahoga River with ease. Christened in Cleveland in 2022, it’s the first ship the locally owned steamship company has debuted in more than four decades, and it’s outfitted with new technology and a new layout — and Cleveland’s twisted river, top of mind.

“This boat, I say, is digital. All the other ones are analog,” says Weber, who became the captain of this ship last year. “It’s not like the old boats, where they’re 50 or 70 years old or something like that. This is brand new.”

Weber’s able to control the vessel’s direction and movement from the pilothouse on the boat’s automated system, with electronic screens that show all the data he needs to effectively navigate.

The new ship is participating in an old industry — one that’s nearly as old as Cleveland itself.

Earlier, before boarding, the sunrise spits an orange glow onto the ship’s towering side as a load of iron ore from the Bulk Terminal’s conveyor belt spills into a metallic waterfall of reddish-brown pellets. They crash with a noisy “shhh” into the underbelly of the ship.

We’re warned of the pellets, like marbles under your feet. We pay attention to where we step.

The Mark W. Barker, named after Interlake’s current president, comes from the cargo-carrying company that traces its history to the 1880s. Today, it’s transporting 17,250 tons of iron ore to Cleveland-Cliffs, a company with roots in the 1840s. It’s doing this in a port and river that drew surveyor Moses Cleaveland’s eye in the late 1700s, establishing the city’s waterfront identity.

Between Interlake’s and other freighter companies’ fleets, this relatively short jaunt in and out of the Port of Cleveland is responsible for about $4.7 billion annually in economic activity. It transports tens of millions of tons of cargo: primarily, iron ore, steel, salt, limestone, machinery, grain — these essential, defining industries of the Rust Belt.

“It’s, I think, culturally and historically very much a part of Cleveland’s story and going all the way back to the original sighting and founding of Cleveland,” says William Friedman, president and CEO of the Port of Cleveland. “Lots of changes to the harbor to make it navigable and suitable for the shipping industry have taken place over the years, and still sort of evolving land uses, of course, are changing. But it’s still very much a part of the fabric around here and part of a larger system.”

Before the ore is fully loaded, the boat sports a thin coat of off-white powder — the dusty remnants of a shipment of commercial stone and gravel from Marblehead. On one walkway, a hand-drawn grid of tic-tac-toe is swiped into the dust.

It’s hard work. Long days and nights. Work until the job is done. Sweat and dust and dirt. But in some ways, the Mark W. Barker — the first steamship in the Great Lakes to meet the latest EPA emissions standards — has become the fresh, environmentally friendly face of a gritty, essential industry.

Looking out from the pilothouse, that’s reflected on the Cuyahoga — the same river which, in 1969, was so polluted it famously caught fire.

As we begin to twist around the big bend of Columbus Road, excavators scoop and level the dusty brown soil on Irishtown Bend, transforming and stabilizing the once-blighted landslide risk into (eventually, hopefully) a park.

We inch around the curve. The breeze changes. The full city skyline comes into view. His hat now flipped backward, Weber wears a pair of reflective sunglasses as bright afternoon rays peek out of a cloudy blue sky. The captain is cautious but authoritative, and he predicts the cross-current before we encounter it. We slowly pivot.

Life Aboard the Mark W. Barker, the Great Lakes’ Newest Cargo ShipThe Mark W. Barker, at 639 feet long, is one of three Interlake Steamship Co. vessels that is short enough to move around the Cuyahoga’s many tight bends. The ship, which debuted in 2022, is the local shipping company’s first new vessel in more than 40 years. And though it’s a little shorter than most of the company’s other boats, it’s capable of carrying an impressive 26,000 tons of cargo at a time.

Riverside trails, created a few years ago, line these shores. Plus: a kayak launch, a couple of tennis courts and a few fishermen, sitting in camping chairs on the water near the Coast Guard Station. Then, a community of building frames, apartment construction sites — no doubt luxury, riverside spaces, built on once-undesirable land — turning into (eventually, hopefully) Cleveland’s next hot neighborhood, on Scranton Peninsula.

But we’re not there yet.

BEATING HEART

Descend the metal staircases, below the galley, living spaces and deck of the Mark W. Barker, and you reach the heart of the machine: the engine room. Here, computer screens and a wall of meters and buttons register the ship’s numerous moving parts. Next door, a hefty, diesel-powered 16-cylinder engine powers the ship.

The engine churns so loudly that a white noise envelopes the space, a steady fuzz behind engineers Erik Wlazlo and Jason Tramte’s voices. The two sit and chat at desk chairs next to a pot of bubbling coffee.

Workers like Wlazlo and Tramte have kept up as Interlake’s engines and machinery evolved. The two started with the Middleburg Heights-based company about 30 years ago. Now, Wlazlo serves as the Mark W. Barker’s chief engineer with Tramte as his right-hand man, the lead QMED engineer.

But first came Wlazlo’s decade of work in the hot rooms of true steamship engines. He even spent time on Interlake’s oldest boat, 1942’s Lee A. Tregurtha — a ship with two battle stars for World War II service in its prior life. (Wlazlo says the steam engines were fun to work on. “It’s a little warm, but it was great, I used to really enjoy it. The steamers were very laid back.”)

Then, in the 2000s, he saw Interlake’s fleet of cargo ships get repowered, one by one, from steam engines to their current, more efficient and cleaner diesel systems.

In 2021, Wlazlo faced one of his biggest career challenges yet, when he arrived at Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. There, the future Mark W. Barker was, at the time, just a couple of metal modules. The bits and pieces of the ship marked Interlake’s first new build in a few decades — and one of the first, of this scale, at Fincatieri.

“It was a huge puzzle. This is the first whole, entire ship built on the lakes here in almost 40 years. The shipyard has repaired ships; they build barges and some tugs, but nothing like this,” says Wlazlo. “I’ve never seen this stuff before.”

He helped put things together over the next year, armed with stacks of manuals and installation guides for components that were crafted all over the world. An engine built in La Grange, Illinois; gearboxes from Texas; a propeller, propulsion control and thrusters from Sweden; an unloading system from Canada.

Like a buoyant, complicated Lego set, piece by piece, the ship came together.

In the end, something specific was born in Wisconsin. Something new, destined for its Northeast Ohio home.

The Mark W. Barker’s layout flips around a few key elements from designs of other Interlake vessels. Its unloading boom is mounted to the bow of the ship, instead of its stern. Its cargo hold is square-shaped instead of sloped — meaning it can hold more product, even though the dimensions of the ship are technically smaller.

After all, every inch counts on a freighter, especially one that squeezes into the Cuyahoga. The river’s tight bends necessitate that ships be shorter than 700 feet to get through.

And they have to be maneuverable. The Mark W. Barker is outfitted with two 1,000-horsepower thrusters at the ship’s bow and stern, allowing it to move both forward and backward. After all, there’s no turning around in a river this tight. Meanwhile, the ship’s flap rudder gives it extra steering ability, turning at about 70 degrees (a big difference from most ships’ 40-43 degrees).

However, it hasn’t all been smooth sailing on the Mark W. Barker. The new build brought new challenges, including malfunctions.

The ship made headlines last May when it lost power and ran aground on the Detroit River. After a few hours, the ship managed to break free and continue on its journey without any damage or injuries.

Wlazlo leads us to the door of the engine room, where we roll up foam earplugs and plug them, one after the other, into our ears. When Wlazlo opens the door, a mechanical noise blasts out. He has to raise his voice over the cacophonous equipment to tell us about how the engine works.

He reaches down and lugs up a hefty tube of metal sitting in the corner of the room. The piston is as big as his forearm, which sports a fiery Detroit Tigers tattoo in honor of his hometown. Then we stand over a metal grated walkway and peer down at the many pistons below us, furiously pumping and powering the ship’s movement along another curve of the Cuyahoga.

This isn’t some dark, Titanic-esque inferno. A gust of cool air blasts from a vent, pushing strands of loose hair back in the artificial wind. Bright fluorescents light a workstation with everyday tools labeled and arranged on a peg board.

This is where Wlazlo, Tramte and other engineers onboard fix everything that breaks on the ship. The surrounding engines might be the most important part of their jobs, but if a toilet or a washing machine is on the fritz, they’ll fix that, too.

Though many city dwellers have seen this ship crawl slowly by the city’s scenery, it’s rare to catch a glimpse of its inner workings, its beating heart — this tucked-away life on board.

LIFE ON BOARD

Around 11 a.m., we smell lunch being prepared on the deck. The scent of grilled meats mixes with the lake breeze. Chief steward Julie Kowalski is busy preparing meals for the 22-person crew. Today’s menu, written on a dry-erase board outside the kitchen serving window, features gyros, hamburgers, loaded baked potatoes, Buffalo chicken wraps, Coney dogs, sandwiches, soups and salads. A freezer is filled to the brim with ice cream, and today’s dessert special is an Oreo cheesecake.

“Nobody goes hungry here,” Kowalski says, methodically flipping a row of burger patties on the flat-top grill.

Behind her, second cook Cristonna Lisby pulls a tray of warm, freshly baked cookies out of an oven. “This is a younger crew,” she says, raising her eyebrows. “They’re always hungry, so I have to keep up with it.”

Lisby knows how to keep up with hungry young people. With two teenage boys — a 15- and a 17-year-old — at home in Georgia, she first started cooking for her family and for parties, before she worked for Harris Teeter, a grocery chain, and then Interlake. “I made things,” she says. “I wasn’t a microwave mom.”

Now, Lisby spends months away from her sons, living on the boat, providing for her family from afar. While she’s worked for Interlake for two years, the lifestyle is not for everyone.

Kowalski, as a relief chef, works on Interlake vessels for weeks at a time.

“When I go home, I have no husband or pets or anything. I live alone. It’s good,” says Kowalski, a Marine City, Michigan resident. She reaches for a container of spices above the stovetop. “I go home and just enjoy life.”

Then again, the Mark W. Barker is “home,” too. Crew members live onboard, retreating to their cabins after long work days, for months. Lisby’s door, just down the hall from the galley, is easy to spot, with anime stickers and butterflies taped to its outside — reminiscent of a college dormitory, decked out to show off her personality.

Kowalski and Lisby started their shifts this morning at 6 a.m., whipping up breakfast for the crew — made-to-order omelets, sausage and egg sandwiches and more. They’ll end their day of work at around 6 p.m. after dinner service is finished. No days off.

The cooks rely on a rotation of recipes. Some are plated meals, others are grab and go, wrapped in layers of cellophane, for a quick bite ahead of an oddly timed shift.

“I have about, maybe, 50 dinner entrees, and it helps me keep everything fresh,” Kowalski says. “They’ve never had your lasagna, you know? I don’t want to get stale, so if you go to another boat, even if you just make lasagna or meatloaf, it’s all different people.”

In the morning, a few members of the crew sit quietly at the galley’s round tables and eat plates of eggs and toast. An old Star Trek movie plays on the TV, near a La-Z-Boy reclining chair and a shelf of books, decks of cards and other games provided to pass the time.

“Everyone’s very nice about everything. Everyone’s very laid back, very easygoing,” Kowalski says. She hands a  plated burger and fries to a worker through the kitchen’s serving window. “To take this job, you have to be.”

You almost forget you’re moving on a ship, in a room like this.

It’s a living room, dining room and den, all in one — a key part of daily life for the crew. And life here also means everyday things like gyros, home-baked cookies, the cornhole set that workers often bring out on a nice day on the top of Hatch 5, and Starlink video calls that Lisby makes on a daily basis with her two sons.

And it also means the lobster and crab leg dinners Kowalski cooks on Christmas — or ham and turkey on Easter and Thanksgiving — or the annual Fourth of July cookout. All right here on this ship. No days off, after all.

There’s life on board, and it’s in constant motion, this little world on a freighter that’s currently on top of the Cuyahoga River — and at lunch, it smells like grilled meats.

“Really, it’s a self-sustained city,” Weber says, “so anything that you can think of, we have.”

And there’s another city, right behind it. Kowalski props open the kitchen door to let in some cool air. On the deck beyond, we see a crew member light a cigarette, leaning against the rail. Behind him, Tower City slowly swipes out of view.

ALWAYS RUNNING

Matthew Bassett starts his shift in early-morning darkness, wearing a high-visibility neon yellow jacket and hard hat at Cleveland Bulk Terminal. The rising sun’s light glimmers off of Bassett’s gold wedding band. He and ordinary seaman Jesse Allen kill time before the ship finishes loading up, watching a duck waddle nearby.

Later in the day, Bassett is working his second shift — a split shift. Easy to remember, at least. “My watch is 12 to four, twice a day,” Bassett says.

Two split shifts and often plenty of overtime when the schedule calls for it: Bassett’s schedule as an Interlake mate, for the past four years, can be scattered. When he’s not on the clock, he enjoys reading books — recently, a history about the Crusades, a biography about Henry Ford, a Western and — fittingly, for a sailor — Gulliver’s Travels.

Ideally, Bassett says, he’s only on the Mark W. Barker for, at most, 180 days out of the year. It’s taxing to both work and live in a workplace, and he misses home in Traverse City, Michigan, and his wife, Karen, “every second of every day,” he says.

“But I like my job,” he adds. “I mean, if you talk to an attorney, he’d rather be home, too, but he’s got a job he’s good at — it’s a means to providing for your family. If you talk to a doctor, you know she’s gonna want to be home with the kids, too. I think everyone misses home and family when they’re working, but you’re working for that family and it’s a tradeoff we all make.”

By the time his second shift rolls around, the early morning chill has subsided into a sweaty, sunny afternoon. Bassett has ditched his jacket and wears a pair of stained overalls and a T-shirt. He stands on the deck at the bow of the ship.

We have moved past any distinguishable markers of the city skyline. Now we float in a less-developed stretch of river, one of abandoned rusty docks and occasional small swathes of litter: plastic water bottles, chip bags, twigs and muck, lapping at the banks.

We watch work trucks and excavators organize Cleveland-Cliffs’ mounds of iron ore. In the distance, massive claw-machine grabbers lift and move the essential ingredients to the plant.

Bassett’s eyeing the shore as the ship slows, occasionally radioing in distances and angles to Weber in the captain’s office, helping him maneuver around those last few pesky bends of the Cuyahoga.

You get better at it the longer you practice, Bassett says. Though he’s only worked for Interlake for four years, he’s navigated the Great Lakes for more than 25 years, and the Cuyahoga for more than 12, as a former captain and first-mate for American Steamship Co.

“When I was driving as a captain up and down the river, it’s three hours of nearly complete focus the whole time,” Bassett says.

In those years of focus, Bassett has seen the river change — the Flats developments ebb and flow, fall apart, revitalize, repeat. (“The only constant there seems to be Shooters,” he says.) He’s seen new apartments built up near the shores, while other properties were torn down, like Tower City Amphitheater and Eagle Street.

And he’s seen recreation increase. Rowing teams now share the river, and boaters consistently line up near Shooters, where they, at one time, occasionally bopped into one another when the freighters used their thrusters to navigate around them, Bassett says.

He’s been caught in snow squalls, hit by seagull poop and caught behind the Norfolk-Southern rail bridge, where he maintained control of the ship in windy conditions behind achingly long trains.

He recounts one ship’s docking at Cleveland-Cliffs, which accidentally knocked down a power line, caused a blackout at the mills and nearly electrocuted a freighter crew member.

“It can be dangerous,” he says, eyes trained on the shore. “You’ve got to pay attention.”

Down on the main deck, Allen, Juan Palacios and a few other seamen busily prepare a pulley system attached to a long metal arm on the ship. Allen steps up on a stool and swings his legs over a wooden seat attached to the rope.

A crewmate pulls, hoisting Allen into the air. The team swings the metal arm out over the edge of the boat, and Allen, clinging to the line, with it. They lower him down, 20 feet, to the ground.  In a few seconds, Palacios follows, in the same manner, and they start the process of tying down lines, docking the ship safely next to Cleveland-Cliffs — the first step to unloading the shipment of ore inside.

The crew gets to work under the hot rays, as a plume of white steam rises out of one of the steel mill’s smokestacks. The work rarely pauses here, in the heart of Cleveland manufacturing — and not on the Mark W. Barker, either.

We are six miles from where we started, in nearly as many hours. The sun furiously beats down onto the ship, onto the surrounding iron ore, onto this main industry of Cleveland — and, also, onto the ship’s crew that keep things running smoothly all the while.

“The boats never stop,” Bassett says. “You think of a factory, somebody’s gotta work second shift, somebody’s gotta work third shift. If it’s going to run 24 hours, you’ve got to be. Police on the street 24 hours a day — there’s doctors in the emergency room — and there’s sailors on the boats, working.”

Link to story And plenty of photos:  https://clevelandmagazine.com/we-travel-the-cuyahoga-aboard-the-mark-w-barker-the-great-lakes-newest-cargo-ship?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR3DUgGIr8mjL1GISWWTX99-w1qHa62OP9_fD7d7R2C-Q5RWwaB7eoRmp8w_aem_ZmFrZWR1bW15MTZieXRlcw

Story: Annie Nickoloff
Art: Matthew Chasney & Matt Lance, Lance Aerial

Make Your Plans Now for Soo
Boatnerd Picnic, Freighter-Chasing Cruise

Join us for the Annual Boatnerd Picnic and Freighter-Chasing Cruise on the St. Marys River during the annual Engineers Day weekend at Sault Ste. Marie June 27-38. Find details on both events here: https://www.boatnerd.com/boatnerd-soo-gathering-june-27-28-2024/

 Michipicoten Heads for Shipyard

THUNDER BAY, ON –– The damaged motor vessel Michipicoten left Thunder Bay, ON, for a repair facility in Superior, WI, on Thursday morning. The vessel is being escorted first by the Canadian tug Glenada and then by the U.S. tug Helen H. during its transit, which is expected to take roughly 18 hours. The Michipicoten is expected to undergo permanent repairs following damage to a crack in her hull received June 8, 2024 while downbound on Lake Superior.

The U.S. Coast Guard has been working closely with Transport Canada, the Canadian Coast Guard, the vessel owner, naval engineers, National Weather Service and third-party surveyors to ensure the vessel’s safe transit. This team effort included the safe offloading of all cargo, a thorough structural survey of the vessel and completion of temporary repairs, extensive engineering analysis, and the creation of a comprehensive transit plan.

The Michipicoten suffered an approximately 15 foot-long crack in the bottom of its hull en route from Two Harbors, MN, to Sault Ste. Marie, ON.  The ship’s crew reported hearing a loud bang, and a preliminary investigation pointed to stress or fatigue as the possible cause of hull failure that resulted in flooding.

Shortly after the vessel limped into Thunder Bay, a local dive crew welded a temporary patch over the crack, and the remaining water was removed. Michipicoten’s cargo of taconite pellets for Algoma Steel was transferred to a sister ship, the Manitoulin. Both vessels are self-unloaders.

The shipyard in Thunder Bay was idled by owner Ontario Shipyards earlier this year, with the company citing market conditions and the unavailability of skilled labor.

USCG Release, TB News

Make Your Plans Now for Soo
Boatnerd Picnic, Freighter-Chasing Cruise

Join us for the Annual Boatnerd Picnic and Freighter-Chasing Cruise on the St. Marys River during the annual Engineers Day weekend at Sault Ste. Marie June 27-38. Find details on both events here: https://www.boatnerd.com/boatnerd-soo-gathering-june-27-28-2024/