A New Type of GreAT LAkes BuLk CArrier

In August of 2019, at Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, work commenced on the first ship to be built for service on the Great Lakes since 1983. Interlake Steamship Company commissioned the project, with Ian Sharp, Director of Fleet Projects, spearheading the design. Sharp directed the in-house conceptual design phase of the project and then continued to work closely with Fincantieri and Bay Engineering during the entire building phase. Two years later, in October 2021, the ship was floated out of the dry dock. By early summer of 2022 she was already in service, transporting cargo between Cleveland, Ohio and Superior, Wisconsin.

Then, on September 1, 2022, under perfect blue skies and bright sunlight, Interlake Steamship Company directors, personnel and invited guests gathered in Cleveland for the christening of their new bulk carrier, the Mark W. Barker. At 639 ft. in length with a beam of 78 ft., the Barker, named for current Interlake president Mark W. Barker, joined the Interlake fleet as the first River Class vessel on the Great Lakes.

The Mark W. Barker is powered by two 16-cylinder engines totaling 8,000 horsepower, with a single, controllable-pitch, four-blade propeller, 18 feet in diameter. They are the first Great Lakes commercial shipping engines to meet current EPA Tier 4 emissions standards. Atypical of most Great Lakes freighters, the MWB has both a bow and a stern thruster which, along with her smaller size, provides more navigational maneuverability in restricted areas such as rivers. Additionally, the MWB is equipped with special steering capacity to handle tight turns, a feature that will be especially advantageous in the Cuyahoga River where she will be loading cargoes of salt from the Cargill salt mines.

Yet another innovative feature is its square cargo hold that has a flat bottom, replacing the characteristic V-shaped cargo hold. Of course, the actual bottom of the ship is not flat; it is contoured and rounded for efficient travel through the water. The conveyor system lies just below the flat deck, and just below that are ballast water tanks which are used to compensate for the weight of the cargo off-loaded, and allows the ship to maintain good trim, propeller immersion and overall stability, especially in bad weather. This flat bottom design allows for the transporting of bulk materials that are both free-flowing (such as iron ore, coal and salt) and non-free-flowing (such as wind-turbine blades). At 878,000 cubic feet, the hold has a carrying capacity of 26,000 gross tons, more than either of two similar Interlake ships, the 767-ft. Kaye Barker (25,900 gross tons) and the 690-ft. Herbert C. Jackson (24,000 gross tons). The conveyer boom and some of the machinery needed to operate it are located in the bow, making it possible to unload bulk cargo on land in places where vessels with their boom further aft are not able to do. Loading and unloading is completely automated, with a touch screen in the control room and video cameras everywhere to monitor the process.

Interlake Steamship Company is the largest privately held shipping company in the Great Lakes. Originally formed in 1883 as Pickands Mather & Co., it was purchased in 1973 and went private in 1987. Currently the company owns and/ or operates ten lake freighters, four of which are 1,000-footers, and one articulated tug barge (ATB). In late 2020, they purchased the iconic passenger and car ferry SS Badger, sailing the waters of Lake Michigan between Ludington, Michigan and Manitowoc, Wisconsin.

Factoid #1

When the gates in the bottom of the cargo hold are opened, the bulk cargo falls through the grid onto a conveyor belt below, and is eventually transported up and out onto the conveyor boom, where it is then deposited either on the ground or onto a waiting truck. For the relatively small amount of bulk cargo that does not fall through the grid because of the flat bottom, two specially built Caterpillar front end loaders, stored in a garage at the front end of the cargo hold, are brought out to plow the remaining cargo into the grids and gates below, where it falls onto the conveyor belt.

Factoid #2

Fincantieri S.P.A. is an Italian company headquartered in Trieste, Italy. They own 18 shipyards on four continents and claim to be the fourth largest ship building company in the world, having produced military ships and cruise ships as well as merchant vessels.

Factoid #3

The extensive electrical work done on the Mark W. Barker was provided by Faith Technologies, headquartered in Menasha, Wisconsin. The company is highly experienced in the complexities of shipboard electronics, having worked on several U.S. Navy combat ships including the USS Detroit, built at the Fincantieri shipyard in Marinette, Wisconsin, about 20 miles northwest of Sturgeon Bay.

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the following people for their reviews and contributions to this article: Mark Barker and Interlake Headquarters staff Justin Sater, Bay Shipbuilding