Interlake Steamship Company

The Interlake Steamship Company is an American freight ship company that operates a fleet on the Great Lakes in North America.[1][2][3] It is now part of Interlake Maritime Services.

Interlake Steamship Company stack markings

The company is chaired by James R. Barker, with his son, Mark W. Barker, serving as President. Paul R. Tregurtha serves as Vice-Chairman of the company.[4]

History

The firm was founded in 1913 when a consortium of firms bought out the seventeen vessels of the Gilchrist Company, which had gone into receivership.[5] The other firms were: the Lackawanna Steamship Company, the Acme Steamship Company, the Standard Steamship Company, the Provident Steamship Company and the Huron Barge Company. The combined fleet operated 56 vessels.

When Interlake launched its largest vessel, MV William J. Delancey (now MV Paul R. Tregurtha), its fleet contained 151 vessels, and was capable of carrying over three million tons of cargo at one time.[6]

In early 2018, Interlake established a subsidiary service known as Interlake Logistics Solutions. Although its existing freight services were focused on bulk raw materials, the new service offered shipping of finished goods. The Barker and Tregurtha families, owners of Interlake Steamship, chartered the 418-foot (127 m), 14,000 short tons (13,000 t) barge Montville to provide this new service on an as-needed basis.[7]

In April 2019, Interlake Steamship announced construction of a 639-foot (195 m) long, 75-foot (23 m) wide River-class self-unloading bulk freighter. The vessel, built by Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, was the first U.S.-flagged, Jones Act-compliant ship built on the Great Lakes since 1983.[8] and the first built by Interlake since 1981.[9] The ship was christened MV Mark W. Barker in Cleveland, Ohio[8] on 1 September 2022.[10]

In December 2020, SS Badger was acquired by the Interlake Steamship Company.[11] The deal also included acquisition of the tug USS Undaunted (ATA-199) (renamed MT Undaunted), deck barge SS City of Midland 41 (renamed ATB Pere Marquette 41), and SS Badger sister ship SS Spartan, currently not in operation.[11][12] This was a part of a larger sale of assets. The Middleburg Heights, Ohio-based Interlake Holding Company acquired the assets of Lake Michigan Car Ferry Company, based in Ludington, Michigan.[13]

List of vessels
The Interlake Steamship Company Vessels[14]
imagenamelaunch
date		retirednotes
ATB Pere Marquette 4119401988
  • Currently an articulated tug barge with the tug MT Undaunted[11]
  • Built as SS City of Midland 41
MV Lee A. Tregurtha1942
  • Built as USS Chiwawa, later named SS Walter A. Sterling and SS William Clay Ford (II)
SS Frank Armstrong19431987[15]
  • The fourth ship originally built for the U.S. Maritime Commission[16][17]
  • Sold for scrap to Turkish Shipbreakers in 1988
MT Undaunted1944
SS Badger1952
  • The last, and largest, coal-fired, steam engine car-ferry built in the United States[11]
MV Kaye E. Barker1952
  • Built as SS Edward B. Greene, later renamed SS Benson Ford (III)
SS Spartan19521979
  • Currently on long-term lay-up in Ludington, Michigan[11]
ATB Pathfinder1953
  • Built as SS J. L. Mauthe, renamed Pathfinder, a self-unloading barge paired with the Z-drive tug Dorothy Ann in 1999
MV Honorable James L. Oberstar1958
  • Built as SS Charles M. Beeghly
SS John Sherwin19582008
  • Currently on long-term lay-up at the Interlake Steamship Company Dock in DeTour, Michigan
MV Herbert C. Jackson1959
  • Has always sailed for the Interlake Steamship Company
MV Stewart J. Cort1972
  • First 1000-foot vessel on the Great Lakes, the last to be designed with a forward house
MV James R. Barker1976
  • Third 1000-foot vessel on the upper Great Lakes[18]
MV Mesabi Miner1977
  • Fourth 1000-ft vessel on the upper Great Lakes[19]
MV Paul R. Tregurtha1981
  • Thirteenth 1000-foot vessel on the upper Great Lakes[6]
  • Built as MV William J. Delancey[6]
  • Flagship for the Interlake Steamship Company
MG Winfield Scott (LT-805)19932021
  • Currently on long-term lay-up in Ludington, Michigan[11]
MV Mark W. Barker2022
  • The first ship on the Great Lakes with engines that meet EPA Tier 4 emissions standards
  • First Jones Act-compliant vessel on Great Lakes in four decades.[8]

References
  1. "Great Lakes Book Shelf". Boatnerd. Retrieved 2016-03-14.
  2. Alex Roland; W. Jeffrey Bolster; Alexander Keyssar (2008). The Way of the Ship: America's Maritime History Reenvisoned, 1600-2000. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 367–370. ISBN 9780470136003. Retrieved 2016-03-14.
  3. Raymond A. Bawal (2011). Superships of the Great Lakes: Thousand-foot Ships on the Great Lakes. Inland Expressions. pp. 27–32, 35, 42–46, 70. ISBN 9780981815749. Retrieved 2016-03-14. The MESABI MINER has a carrying capacity identical to that of the JAMES R. BARKER at 63,300 tons. Upon entering service, these two ships provided the Interlake Steamship Company with a dramatic increase in that firm's total trip capacity.
  4. "Paul Tregurtha and James Barker Receive Silver Bell Awards" (PDF). Seamen’s Church Institute. Retrieved February 5, 2022.
  5. "BIG GREAT LAKES MERGER". New York Times. 1913-04-26. p. 13. Retrieved 2016-03-15.
  6. Mark L. Thompson (1994). Queen of the Lakes. Wayne State University Press. pp. 200, 201–204. ISBN 9780814323939. Retrieved 2016-03-15.
  7. McCafferty, Rachel Abbey (April 30, 2018). "Interlake Steamship adds new barge to fleet". Crain's Cleveland Business. Retrieved May 1, 2018.
  8. Schuyler, David (April 9, 2019). "Freighter to be built in Wisconsin shipyard will be first new U.S. flagged bulk carrier in 35 years". Milwaukee Business Journal. Retrieved April 10, 2019.
  9. "GREAT LAKES OPERATOR INVESTS LOCALLY". The Motorship. June 26, 2020. Retrieved August 31, 2020.
  10. Ferretti, Christine (December 31, 2020). "Iconic Great Lakes car ferry SS Badger sold". The Detroit News.
  11. Prinsen, Jake (December 31, 2020). "S.S. Badger car ferry has new owner as part of Lake Michigan Car Ferry Co. sale to Interlake Holding Co". Manitowoc Herald Times.
  12. MIBIZ STAFF (December 30, 2020). "S.S. Badger — iconic cross-lake car ferry in Ludington — sold to Ohio firm". MBIZ.
  13. "The Interlake Steamship Company Vessels". interlake-steamship.com. 2019. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
  14. Berry, Sterling (2011). "Armstrong, Frank". greatlakesvesselhistory.com. Retrieved December 14, 2010.
  15. Wharton, George (2011). "C.T.C. No. 1". boatnerd.com. Retrieved December 6, 2018.
  16. Haydamacker, Nelson "Mickey"; Millar, Alan D. (24 February 2009). Deckhand. University of Michigan Press. p. 111. ISBN 978-0-472-03325-6.
  17. "Great Lakes Fleet Page Vessel Feature -- James R. Barker". Boatnerd. Retrieved 2016-03-14.
  18. George Wharton. "Mesabi Miner". Boatnerd. Retrieved 2016-03-14.
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