I found someone who can see 👀, that simple concept eludes the consensus. And the cfr trilateral commission knows it. The only complaint I have : no American station wagon simulated wood along the sides with accompanying hood ornament.🇺🇸
God bless the birth of a new laker. Much of the great lakes fleet is quite aged, even though still beautiful. These hard working vessels and crews seem to survive bounties and hardships for decade after decade keeping commerce going to benefit us all. Absolutely great video of a ship sure to become popular with ship watchers. So well done, thanks.
Thanks for posting this! At the level of importance to the lakes shipping industry & more, it should've been national news. Great to see one built here!
The birth of a beautiful vessel. Thanks for the taping. I learned so much fr. Your film work. Yes it would be wonderful if Sunday Morning, 60 Minutes covered these events for Made in America. When I was a young teens my Grampa to me to see the building of the Eisenhower Locks. In my eye it looked so deep, an the men looked so tiny.
Great video of this ship construction in Sturgeon Bay. This is a smaller ship at under 650 feet long. Put this next to an oceangoing bulk carrier taking iron ore from Port Hedland, Western Australia taking ore to India or China it looks very small. Those huge ocean going ore carriers are over 1,200 feet long, over 200 feet wide and draw near or over 60 feet of water. They can carry at least 5 to 8 times the amounts of iron ore than this new ship. Port Headland has ships coming in drawing near and over 60 feet of draft. They have to wait for high tide to allow these deep draft vessels into Port Headland.
I think my wife and I saw this ship being built! We go up the thumb once a year to get our Lake Michigan fix...May the Good Lord keep her off the bottom!
Amazing. And nice to see that these ships can still be built in the USA I thought we had lost most of our shipbuilding capability through outsourcing...
Most of the great lakes capacity has withered due to lack of demand for new US flagged vessels. And some of the Canadian fleets have purchased new ships from Asian shipyards.
Far too many shippers are opting for "cheaper" overseas shipbuilding. As a result too many US shipyards have closed, and those skills have been lost. It is so heartwarming to see one of our own building a laker again. Thank you for sharing this video with us.
Thanks Gary, Nice video work. Great to see our shipyards finally building a boat on the lakes again. Looks like possible work on the Blough. 🤞 Stay safe, Boe
Fantastic video Gary. It gives us landlubbers an idea of what the crews have to manage in their daily activities. WOW! Sure is nice to know we can still build things in America.
I grew up in a small village on the south shore of Lake Superior. My grand father was a commercial fisherman. I remember as a kid watching freighters going by like battle ships in formation. One after another all day long. I go back to visit the little town and I’m lucky to see a freighter. I live a short distance from Sturgeon Bay, I saw the beautiful ship being built when going through sturgeon Bay. I wonder why they built a freighter only 639 feet long?
It’s very sad to see how the shipping industry of the Great Lakes has completely given up on what made Great Lakes ships beautiful,elegant and unique with forward pilot houses
so true the boats these days seem like there all cut from cookie cutters and they have lost the beautiful lines thats lakers were famaus for the Blough next to her has better lines then that generic ship ever will ships theses days are sad they all come from the same cookie cutter design there no uneaqness about them eny more and the company's run them to the ground and dont care about them they rather scrap and build a new one then take care of the ship they got cant tell you how meny boats iv seen go to the scrapper this year its sad alot of them still had so much life left in them if only the company's took better care of them and saw just how nice thoses boats really were
@@theshyguitarist I don't think having a forward pilot house made ships dangerous considering some ships are still built with forward pilot houses...I think its just easier to build ships like supertankers now
Is she being repaired? The fires caused substantial damage but I haven’t seen any news on the state of the vessel yet. Hopefully she will be repaired since she is one of the youngest of the traditional-designed ships
I'm so glad this popped up in my feed today gary... I really needed a "proud to be an American" moment.... And THIS just punched that ticket perfectly.!!🙏🔥👊✌💪💖
@@Maximilian7992 And isn't that just awesome?! That simple laws of physics can allow for behemoths to float, when a small stone would sink... these are the the kinds of thoughts that keep me awake at night.
Ah another viewer of his channel i see. Yes, I will too wait for the Mark Barker to appear in his videos…assuming it heads as far as Duluth. Or I might see it in person during the few visits to Duluth I make
That's not true. The Tregurtha is the biggest and sails between Detroit and Superior all the time. Other 1000 footers go as far south as Erie. They're too big to leave the lakes for the ocean but they can sail on at least 4 of the Great Lakes.
@@tmdillon1969 Yes, the Tregurtha and other thousand footers are the biggest and can go as far as Cleveland and Lake Erie, but they wont go as far as Lake Ontario because they can not fit through the Welland Canal.
@@johnstudd4245 I'm aware of that. I used to live near Welland. I'm sure this this ship could have been built longer but they probably have reasons for that.
For those who whine about this ship not being a traditional Great Laker, it has to do with the unloader crane on the bow area. Now had this been built in the traditional design, with the forward wheelhouse, you would need a few hundred feet more, and would defeat what the ship's purpose: to deliver cargo over the Ohio and Cuyahoga rivers as well as the Great Lakes.
Great video, thank you for sharing. In the meantime, I've clearly not paid much attention this year. I had no idea that the Blough was out of commission.
It went out last February when a massive fire caused by a winter furnace spread throughout most of the stern. The unloading converters were heavily damaged
Glad to see the Barker join the Great Lakes fleet. Many thanks for the video. If I am not mistaken, Fincantieri is also known for shipbuilding in Italy where they built a fair number of Passenger Liners.
Yep, their shipyard in Italy have built several large cruise ships including the beautiful ocean liner, Queen Mary 2. Sadly seventeen workers died during her construction when scaffolding collapsed, and they fell +-130 feet to the bottom of the drydock.
I want to see "The IRON BELT" and GREAT LAKES SHIPPING THRIVE again.... When Great Lakes Shipping dies, so does AMERICA!!! WE CAN do it AGAIN!!!! I'm from GA but I LOVE to hear The John G MUNSON, Authur M ANDERSON, Paul Tregurta, and American Spirit , Salute the Fans.... One day I'll see and hear them in PERSON!!!
Great to see a ship built in their own country well done the ship builders. What do these ships carry now? I guess unlike ships going to Cleveland back years ago
Taconite pellets are loaded at ports like Duluth Superior and Two Harbos, then transported south. Coal is mostly hauled north I think. Additional cargoes are slate, salt, grain, etc. the majority of freight is stuff like taconite ore and coal though.
Can't be. The Jones Act says ships traveling between two US ports have to be American made, with American steel, American owned, and crewed by at least 75% US mariners.
Interesting to see how much Sturgeon Bay has changed since I spent a few months there in 1990. Then there were two ship building companies there. One built yachts and super yachts out of fiberglass or aluminum. The other was building all wood minesweepers of about 220' They launched one sideways into the bay. Were both of these companies bought up by Fincantieri? Good to see ship building continue on the Great Lakes.
It’s changed a lot FBS now owns half of 1st Ave blocked off with gates for bayship only. They own pretty much everything from their stuff by Sunset park to Jefferson Street on that side of the street
It's been a long time. The late 70's? They built a ship so large that when they flooded the dry dock, it barely floated and had to be pulled out by tugs. I got to your that ship. I was just a teenager. It was huge. I was so impressed by its size.
Kind of surprised to see the first ship built in USA in 35 years go back to the much smaller size. I would've thought any new Lakers would never be under 1000 Feet.
It’s designed to operate in much smaller areas like rivers (hence the class name River class). It’s only 600 feet. Too bad that it was built in the ugly run of the mill doesn’t instead of the beautiful traditional design
Interlake Steamship Company. Where is the bow thruster? My family lived aboard their flagships during off seasons in late 1950’s through about 1968 at Sandusky coal dock.
What most people do not realize is a great lakes freighter is designed to handle the short frequency waves the great lakes produce. These ships cannot sail on oceans because they are structurally designed differently. I researched this and found that ocean going ships cannot handle the great lakes waves without damage. That would explain why these ships are built on the great lakes. Average life of a freighter like is is 30 years.
Multiple corrections here. First, an ocean going vessel (saltie) can sail the lakes with reduced cargo capacities, but lakers cannot sail the oceans because their hills are not designed for it. And second, the average life of a laker is much longer than 30 years. Even the 13 thousand-foot freighters are over 40 years old, and the AAA-class freighters still sailing are around 70 and still going strong. The lake are freshwater, meaning they don’t have the corrosive nature of the oceans and therefore lakers last longer. The St Mary’s Challenger was a 100+ year old ship when she was converted to a barge and the hull is still operating as a barge today
@@olivegreenpants7153 The Fitzgerald was the largest ship when it was launched. The Mark Barker is designed to be small and easy to maneuver through tighter ports
@The Paradox Destroyer nonsense! She is designed to operate on the lakes. Ocean vessels have to contend with larger waves but the Mark Barker is not designed to handle that
Most likely the unloaded is mounted forward to save space. The ship is meant to be compact, and having the unloading system at the back would make the stern larger. By having it ferry the cargo to the front, they make use of the bow area which would otherwise be relatively empty
There are some tight docks where a forward boom is essential. A prime example, the Osborne docks around the turning basin in Fairport Ohio. An aft boom boat has no way to unload there, to access the docks boats need to head in to the basin, and swing the forward mounted boom 90 degrees. To access the south side, they need to kick the stern around. I saw an aft boom ATB unload there once, the tug had to come out of the notch and side tow to get the barge's stern up to the bank. There have been several ATBs built with forward booms. There is a stone dock in Cleveland that may have a similar issue, bow is right up by a lift bridge.
thats a rare one, you say in the description its been 35 years since we built a new one in the usa thats a long time, but these things have a long life will she be the biggest on the lakes?
It's a wonder they didn't go for another 1,000 footer, it looks small in that dry dock though and it's different having the unloading gear in the bow, but it probably got cameras up in bow so they'll know where they are.
Nobody seems to have done any research…the ship is built that small because it’s meant to fit inside areas the 1,000 footers couldn’t. The classification of the ship is river class
Just imagine, 1944, Freighters were being built in 120-170 days, fast forward 80 years or so and it takes 2+ years now using practically the same techniques.
Nonsense. I worked at Newport News Shipbuilding. We had carriers we built in 6 years and carriers we built in less than 4. It depends on when the buyer wants to take ownership. Do you ramp up hiring to build quickly, or use an existing workforce and avoid mass layoffs when work slows down. It isn't always a race against time.
@@adstaton8461 Lake shipping back then was booming. There were hundreds of freighters, and even more rolling out of dry dock as outdated freighters were sent to the scrappers. Nowadays, ship II Leung is slower, with the methods to maintain ships being much better (I assume).
@@12345anton6789 Yeah well pretty sure the pandemic would have slowed construction time, plus there was the period of time when the ship was pulled out of dry dock so the yard could service another ship
Wow. I see they are sticking with the tradition of building the lakers ore boats with the very homely minimalist style. There is no nautical gracefulness at all. Just the traditional gritty hard core industrial look. The older ore boat (Roger Blough) looks like a sleek modern racing yacht by comparison.
Getting maximum cargo through a lock is their primary function, flair and rake reduce cargo capacity when it comes time to pass through a rectangular lock. It's all about the money.
@@mpetersen6 Yes, they are. But even among bulk carriers, the lack of rake or flare in the bow, not to mention forgoing a bulbous bow, speaks to the design priorities that drive a lake boat's shape.
@@mattharper588 Yes, my point exactly - I was responding to "American Rambler's" original comment about the "Homely minimalist style" of Lake Boats... there are reasons that they are shaped the way they are. I hope that is clear, if you go back and follow the full thread. Sometimes it is hard to follow a conversation in the comments. 🙂
There are substantially larger ships on the lakes. Was she designed for special work that the bigger vessels can't undertake? Thanks for the interesting video.
Age. Older ships were taconite unloaded by Hullettes. At Toledo, Huron, Lorain, Cleveland, Ashtabula, canneaut, in Ohio. Lackawanna, Ny. East Chicago, Gary, and Burns Harbor, Indiana + South Chicago, I’ll. Then converted to be self unloaded. Newer ore boats do have smaller crews and all are at aft end.
Because at the turn of the 20th century, the engine parts were huge. Massive triple expansion steam engines powered by huge, coal-fired boilers. There wasn’t any room for a pilot house at the stern. Plus, the pilot house at the bow allowed for better views. But unfortunately, in the late 70’s, ships were now being built with stern cabins because the engines were much smaller. They cast out a century of beautiful design in favor of floating blocks of steel with run of the mill stern cabins like you see on ocean going ships
What sort of propulsion system do these freighters have? I didn't see any accommodation for a prop shaft in the cargo holds ...... so, Azipod? Surely not a VSP?
The props & engines would be mounted under the superstructure, just in case she snaps. That way, if one half sinks, and the other still remains afloat,she can still motor to dry dock.
Probably never. I really wish they would but a ship hasn’t been built like that for several decades and I doubt one will he built again, since they’ve been built like this for so long. It’s sad
The wheelhouse supports the bridge at the very top of the superstructure. It’s so high because not only do they have to be able to see past the bow, but over the unloading boom. Why they don’t have it at the front is because it detracts from absolute maximum carrying capacity, which seems to be all the companies care about now.
There was never an Edmund Fitzgerald II. And I think it would have been foolish to build one, seeing as how unlucky the original one was. Cursed to misfortune right from laucnh
giving the sad state of affairs today in this nation , 🇺🇸 , this is a great thing to see !!! 😷🤓😎👍👏 , i can still remember seeing Hulletts unloading boats where my dad worked at P&C dock co. in Conneaut Ohio !! , also in Cleveland Ohio it was an amazing sight to see one of these making its way up the twisting turning Cuyahoga river to the steel mills !!! 👍😎🇺🇸
Bay shipbuilding has built many lake freighters for the lakes trade.Keeping the 💰💰💰💰💰in the USA.🗽👍⚓
I totally agree with you and Im not even from the US.
But now Italian owned?
www.interlake-steamship.com/media/
I found someone who can see 👀, that simple concept eludes the consensus. And the cfr trilateral commission knows it.
The only complaint I have : no American station wagon simulated wood along the sides with accompanying hood ornament.🇺🇸
God bless the birth of a new laker. Much of the great lakes fleet is quite aged, even though still beautiful. These hard working vessels and crews seem to survive bounties and hardships for decade after decade keeping commerce going to benefit us all. Absolutely great video of a ship sure to become popular with ship watchers. So well done, thanks.
Phenomenal video! Thanx Gary! Proud she's owned by my hometown company!
Thanks for posting this! At the level of importance to the lakes shipping industry & more, it should've been national news.
Great to see one built here!
The birth of a beautiful vessel. Thanks for the taping. I learned so much fr. Your film work.
Yes it would be wonderful if Sunday Morning, 60 Minutes covered these events for Made in America. When I was a young teens my Grampa to me to see the building of the Eisenhower Locks. In my eye it looked so deep, an the men looked so tiny.
Great video of this ship construction in Sturgeon Bay.
This is a smaller ship at under 650 feet long. Put this next to an oceangoing bulk carrier taking iron ore
from Port Hedland, Western Australia taking ore to India or China it looks very small. Those huge ocean going ore carriers are over 1,200 feet long, over 200 feet
wide and draw near or over 60 feet of water. They can carry at least 5 to 8 times the amounts of iron ore than this new ship.
Port Headland has ships coming in drawing near and over 60 feet of draft. They have to wait for high tide to allow these deep draft vessels into Port Headland.
Thank You.... Glad to a Laker build here on the Lakes.... Looking forward to watching her traveling along the shores.
I think my wife and I saw this ship being built! We go up the thumb once a year to get our Lake Michigan fix...May the Good Lord keep her off the bottom!
Your video and slide show will live forever. It will become a part of history. Magnificent.
Amazing. And nice to see that these ships can still be built in the USA I thought we had lost most of our shipbuilding capability through outsourcing...
I couldn't agree more,just hope she is built of all American steel.
Most of the great lakes capacity has withered due to lack of demand for new US flagged vessels. And some of the Canadian fleets have purchased new ships from Asian shipyards.
The yards have always done major repair work, so the skills are still there.
@@SteamCrane Glad to hear that!
The George 2 is being built in Brownsville Texas right now. US flagged container ship
Great Video Gary, Thank you for sharing! Choice of music I feel suits the scene.
Awesome, video! It's great to see a new ship built for our Great Lakes! 👍👍
What a choice for music, I fully expected Clint Eastwood to come riding into the picture LOL Really nice photos of the build !
Far too many shippers are opting for "cheaper" overseas shipbuilding. As a result too many US shipyards have closed, and those skills have been lost. It is so heartwarming to see one of our own building a laker again. Thank you for sharing this video with us.
Glad to see ship building in the USA 🇺🇸.
Thanks so much! Great shots and an important record of Great Lakes Shipping!
Thanks Gary,
Nice video work. Great to see our shipyards finally building a boat on the lakes again. Looks like possible work on the Blough. 🤞
Stay safe, Boe
Good looking boat. Nice to see we can still build something!
Fantastic video Gary. It gives us landlubbers an idea of what the crews have to manage in their daily activities. WOW! Sure is nice to know we can still build things in America.
I grew up in a small village on the south shore of Lake Superior. My grand father was a commercial fisherman. I remember as a kid watching freighters going by like battle ships in formation. One after another all day long. I go back to visit the little town and I’m lucky to see a freighter. I live a short distance from Sturgeon Bay, I saw the beautiful ship being built when going through sturgeon Bay. I wonder why they built a freighter only 639 feet long?
Thanks for posting! I does my heart good to see it!
It’s very sad to see how the shipping industry of the Great Lakes has completely given up on what made Great Lakes ships beautiful,elegant and unique with forward pilot houses
so true the boats these days seem like there all cut from cookie cutters and they have lost the beautiful lines thats lakers were famaus for the Blough next to her has better lines then that generic ship ever will ships theses days are sad they all come from the same cookie cutter design there no uneaqness about them eny more and the company's run them to the ground and dont care about them they rather scrap and build a new one then take care of the ship they got cant tell you how meny boats iv seen go to the scrapper this year its sad alot of them still had so much life left in them if only the company's took better care of them and saw just how nice thoses boats really were
@@battledragongun couldn’t agree more
No it's not. The newer designs are safer and more efficient.
@@theshyguitarist I don't think having a forward pilot house made ships dangerous considering some ships are still built with forward pilot houses...I think its just easier to build ships like supertankers now
@@theshyguitarist besides, the newer designs look boring as hell if u ask me
Great video!
Good to see the Roger Blough still in one piece too!
Is she being repaired? The fires caused substantial damage but I haven’t seen any news on the state of the vessel yet. Hopefully she will be repaired since she is one of the youngest of the traditional-designed ships
I'm so glad this popped up in my feed today gary... I really needed a "proud to be an American" moment.... And THIS just punched that ticket perfectly.!!🙏🔥👊✌💪💖
Thank you Gary! Great job.
Cool video! As a life long Michigander I always love hearing about great lakes freighters.🚢🌊⚓
Thank You Gary! That looks like a new larger hatch system.
Great work as usual Gary,I must say your bar is set pretty high already !! Good to see the ice coming off!
Thanks 👍
It never ceases to amaze me how vehicles that large and that heavy are able to float.
It’s all about buoyancy and displacement
@@Maximilian7992 And isn't that just awesome?! That simple laws of physics can allow for behemoths to float, when a small stone would sink... these are the the kinds of thoughts that keep me awake at night.
I can't wait to see this on 1 Long 2 Short.
Ah another viewer of his channel i see. Yes, I will too wait for the Mark Barker to appear in his videos…assuming it heads as far as Duluth. Or I might see it in person during the few visits to Duluth I make
The one thing most people don't know is that the size of this ship is the longest you can build if you want it to sail as far as Lake Ontario.
That's not true. The Tregurtha is the biggest and sails between Detroit and Superior all the time. Other 1000 footers go as far south as Erie. They're too big to leave the lakes for the ocean but they can sail on at least 4 of the Great Lakes.
Actually, you can get ships up to 740 feet through the Welland canal and St. Lawrence seaway.
@@tmdillon1969 Yes, the Tregurtha and other thousand footers are the biggest and can go as far as Cleveland and Lake Erie, but they wont go as far as Lake Ontario because they can not fit through the Welland Canal.
@@johnstudd4245 I'm aware of that. I used to live near Welland. I'm sure this this ship could have been built longer but they probably have reasons for that.
@@TheRantingCabbie good lord, I read your original post as Lake Huron. Sorry man. I need glasses.
12:32 .......Alright everybody back on the bus.......lets go get a beer!!
Seeing the vessel move out of the dry dock to open water would have been nice.
Absolutely amazing!
Great Video Gary!!
Thanks!
Nice to see that here in US we still know how to build other types of ships besides aircraft carriers. Great video!
They k now how. It's amazing though, with the taxes, fees, regulations and high wages anyone wants to spend the time and dough to build 'em here.
Keep building them in the USA!!!
Oh. Sweet. Bridge forward. Classic look.
It doesn’t have its bridge forward. It’s another stern-ender.
Thank you! Really interesting.
Finally get a size perspective when I see the two coaches next to the ship. I wash buses like this so it's my reference.
Very cool! Why don’t they build container ships for the Great Lakes though? Seems like that could alleviate the supply chain backup…
So exciting! Appreciate the footage! ⚓💦
For those who whine about this ship not being a traditional Great Laker, it has to do with the unloader crane on the bow area. Now had this been built in the traditional design, with the forward wheelhouse, you would need a few hundred feet more, and would defeat what the ship's purpose: to deliver cargo over the Ohio and Cuyahoga rivers as well as the Great Lakes.
still looks kinda stupid tho
SIMPLY BEAUTIFUL. THANK YOU
Great video, thank you for sharing. In the meantime, I've clearly not paid much attention this year. I had no idea that the Blough was out of commission.
It went out last February when a massive fire caused by a winter furnace spread throughout most of the stern. The unloading converters were heavily damaged
Good show!
Amazing video beautiful ship made USA to bad majority of the new lakers not to say all of the new lakers are built in China . Congrats from Canada 🇨🇦
Glad to see the Barker join the Great Lakes fleet. Many thanks for the video. If I am not mistaken, Fincantieri is also known for shipbuilding in Italy where they built a fair number of Passenger Liners.
Yep, their shipyard in Italy have built several large cruise ships including the beautiful ocean liner, Queen Mary 2. Sadly seventeen workers died during her construction when scaffolding collapsed, and they fell +-130 feet to the bottom of the drydock.
I want to see "The IRON BELT" and GREAT LAKES SHIPPING THRIVE again....
When Great Lakes Shipping dies, so does AMERICA!!!
WE CAN do it AGAIN!!!!
I'm from GA but I LOVE to hear The John G MUNSON, Authur M ANDERSON, Paul Tregurta, and American Spirit , Salute the Fans....
One day I'll see and hear them in PERSON!!!
Great to see a ship built in their own country well done the ship builders. What do these ships carry now? I guess unlike ships going to Cleveland back years ago
The length indicated
Cleveland’s cuyahoga River with taconite to the steel mills. Also grain up to Montreal from Duluth.
Taconite pellets are loaded at ports like Duluth Superior and Two Harbos, then transported south. Coal is mostly hauled north I think. Additional cargoes are slate, salt, grain, etc. the majority of freight is stuff like taconite ore and coal though.
Exciting! I can't wait to see her in person...
Amazing engineering feat. All built in the United States of America 🇺🇸.
With steel from China. FJB
@@snydedon9636 Nope, US steel. Read up on the Jones Act.
@@snydedon9636 no it wasn't?
@@allanallstar342 👍🤔😂
good video
hopefully i might get to see these vessels in action oned day
Hoo-Ray that it wasn't built at an "overseas" yard. I am pleasantly shocked.
Can't be. The Jones Act says ships traveling between two US ports have to be American made, with American steel, American owned, and crewed by at least 75% US mariners.
There is a park to the left open to the public. =Good place to stop if going to Sturgeon Bay - Door County.
Interesting to see how much Sturgeon Bay has changed since I spent a few months there in 1990. Then there were two ship building companies there. One built yachts and super yachts out of fiberglass or aluminum. The other was building all wood minesweepers of about 220' They launched one sideways into the bay. Were both of these companies bought up by Fincantieri? Good to see ship building continue on the Great Lakes.
It’s changed a lot FBS now owns half of 1st Ave blocked off with gates for bayship only. They own pretty much everything from their stuff by Sunset park to Jefferson Street on that side of the street
She's a marvel to see.
It's been a long time. The late 70's? They built a ship so large that when they flooded the dry dock, it barely floated and had to be pulled out by tugs. I got to your that ship. I was just a teenager. It was huge. I was so impressed by its size.
Why don't ships have lights on the front? Hmmm
This a super good video and the music will knock your socks off... among other things.
Also I love how Roger blough is just sitting there waiting for the a great lake freighter to be built
Kind of surprised to see the first ship built in USA in 35 years go back to the much smaller size. I would've thought any new Lakers would never be under 1000 Feet.
It’s designed to operate in much smaller areas like rivers (hence the class name River class). It’s only 600 feet. Too bad that it was built in the ugly run of the mill doesn’t instead of the beautiful traditional design
cool video, nice work
Thank you!
It's always mesmerizing to watch these lakers go under the the bridge in Duluth.
What progress. 50 years later, we can make a great lakes freighter 2/3rds the length. I wonder how smaller we can get it in another 50 years.
Look forward to seeing her coming into duluth
Interlake Steamship Company. Where is the bow thruster? My family lived aboard their flagships during off seasons in late 1950’s through about 1968 at Sandusky coal dock.
What most people do not realize is a great lakes freighter is designed to handle the short frequency waves the great lakes produce. These ships cannot sail on oceans because they are structurally designed differently. I researched this and found that ocean going ships cannot handle the great lakes waves without damage. That would explain why these ships are built on the great lakes. Average life of a freighter like is is 30 years.
Multiple corrections here. First, an ocean going vessel (saltie) can sail the lakes with reduced cargo capacities, but lakers cannot sail the oceans because their hills are not designed for it. And second, the average life of a laker is much longer than 30 years. Even the 13 thousand-foot freighters are over 40 years old, and the AAA-class freighters still sailing are around 70 and still going strong. The lake are freshwater, meaning they don’t have the corrosive nature of the oceans and therefore lakers last longer. The St Mary’s Challenger was a 100+ year old ship when she was converted to a barge and the hull is still operating as a barge today
14:07
I wish they'd build her with her pilot house forward, and keep that traditional laker style going
If only a company did that. The traditional lakers are much more beautiful than these run of the mill floating blocks of steel
Very good to see you are still building ships in the USA and not relying on foreign countries like China . UK take note
One big open cargo hold ??? They say that’s what doomed Edmond Fitzgerald 😑. Fair winds my friend God bless you for a long career on the lakes 🙏
Interesting that they built it to a size that can fit through the Welland Canal and St. Lawrence Seaway, so it is not limited to the upper lakes.
I was just thinking thats kinda small. The Fitzgerald was longer than that.
@@olivegreenpants7153 rip fitz
@@olivegreenpants7153 The Fitzgerald was the largest ship when it was launched. The Mark Barker is designed to be small and easy to maneuver through tighter ports
@The Paradox Destroyer nonsense! She is designed to operate on the lakes. Ocean vessels have to contend with larger waves but the Mark Barker is not designed to handle that
Large batches! I wonder what the reason for the unloaded being mounted forward? The roger blough was sure there a long time.
Most likely the unloaded is mounted forward to save space. The ship is meant to be compact, and having the unloading system at the back would make the stern larger. By having it ferry the cargo to the front, they make use of the bow area which would otherwise be relatively empty
@@falcondragonslayer interesting. Thank you
There are some tight docks where a forward boom is essential. A prime example, the Osborne docks around the turning basin in Fairport Ohio. An aft boom boat has no way to unload there, to access the docks boats need to head in to the basin, and swing the forward mounted boom 90 degrees. To access the south side, they need to kick the stern around. I saw an aft boom ATB unload there once, the tug had to come out of the notch and side tow to get the barge's stern up to the bank. There have been several ATBs built with forward booms. There is a stone dock in Cleveland that may have a similar issue, bow is right up by a lift bridge.
Build another one , I need it ASAP for a floating mobile machine shop and oil refinery. Name it Nostromos
Thanks
thats a rare one, you say in the description its been 35 years since we built a new one in the usa thats a long time, but these things have a long life will she be the biggest on the lakes?
No shes 640 feet there's quite a few bigger ships but they are limited in what ports they can visit
@@Satori079 ah
Nah, it’s only 640 feet. Glad to see the American lakers are expanding their family again though
Good to see. I am curious. Do they stack the hatch covers on top of each other? Its been 51 years since I was a deckhand.
Looks to me they slide out of the way. This ship appears to have two covers per hold.
They do stack, each hatch has two big sliding doors. The forward door is lifted with hydraulics and after door slides under the lifted forward door.
It's a wonder they didn't go for another 1,000 footer, it looks small in that dry dock though and it's different having the unloading gear in the bow, but it probably got cameras up in bow so they'll know where they are.
Nobody seems to have done any research…the ship is built that small because it’s meant to fit inside areas the 1,000 footers couldn’t. The classification of the ship is river class
Ideal configuration for many tight ports. Footers are specialized for a few big ports.
Why so small? One of my favorite vessels is the Rodger Blough I always love seeing her as I travel our waterway’s. Thanks.
Just imagine, 1944, Freighters were being built in 120-170 days, fast forward 80 years or so and it takes 2+ years now using practically the same techniques.
Nonsense. I worked at Newport News Shipbuilding. We had carriers we built in 6 years and carriers we built in less than 4. It depends on when the buyer wants to take ownership. Do you ramp up hiring to build quickly, or use an existing workforce and avoid mass layoffs when work slows down. It isn't always a race against time.
@@adstaton8461 Lake shipping back then was booming. There were hundreds of freighters, and even more rolling out of dry dock as outdated freighters were sent to the scrappers. Nowadays, ship II Leung is slower, with the methods to maintain ships being much better (I assume).
South Korean and Chinese shipyards uses 3 months to build a bulk carrier like this. A bulk carrier is a low-tech ship that is easy and fast to build
@@12345anton6789 Yeah well pretty sure the pandemic would have slowed construction time, plus there was the period of time when the ship was pulled out of dry dock so the yard could service another ship
@@falcondragonslayer in Asia they build ships like the US did with the Liberty Ships during WW2. Mass production like that is hard to beat
Fantastic
I just saw her in buffalo going home from work. She's big
Thank you the Jones Act
Wow. I see they are sticking with the tradition of building the lakers ore boats with the very homely minimalist style. There is no nautical gracefulness at all. Just the traditional gritty hard core industrial look. The older ore boat (Roger Blough) looks like a sleek modern racing yacht by comparison.
Getting maximum cargo through a lock is their primary function, flair and rake reduce cargo capacity when it comes time to pass through a rectangular lock.
It's all about the money.
@@theblackbear211
Well they are bulk carriers.
@@mpetersen6 Yes, they are. But even among bulk carriers, the lack of rake or flare in the bow, not to mention forgoing a bulbous bow, speaks to the design priorities
that drive a lake boat's shape.
@@theblackbear211 Great Lakes freighters do not have a bulbous bow ocean going vessel do
@@mattharper588 Yes, my point exactly - I was responding to "American Rambler's" original comment about the "Homely minimalist style" of Lake Boats... there are reasons that they are shaped the way they are. I hope that is clear, if you go back and follow the full thread. Sometimes it is hard to follow a conversation in the comments. 🙂
A great ship
There are substantially larger ships on the lakes. Was she designed for special work that the bigger vessels can't undertake? Thanks for the interesting video.
Yes... designed to access ports that the 1000 footers cannot serve. A very interesting story!
The ship class is river-class. The ship is only around 600 feet, easily along the smallest ships built recently, possibly the smallest
Very nice!!
👍👊😎
I really didn't realize how much they can hold until seeing the hatches off
Same here
While exciting to see- she'll never be considered as beautiful as her predecessors.
Great to see a new laker. But I thought shorter ships were being phased out in favor of 1000-foot ships. (The Barker seems plenty long to me.)
Must be so it can access ports the big 1000 ft ships cannot access
Plenty of ports where footers can't fit.
i miss the lines of the old freighters that were different than other places in the world like the buty next to it.
Can someone please tell me why some lake ships have the bridge on the bow and some on the stern?
design ,layout, equipment, purpose
Age. Older ships were taconite unloaded by Hullettes. At Toledo, Huron, Lorain, Cleveland, Ashtabula, canneaut, in Ohio. Lackawanna, Ny. East Chicago, Gary, and Burns Harbor, Indiana + South Chicago, I’ll. Then converted to be self unloaded. Newer ore boats do have smaller crews and all are at aft end.
Because at the turn of the 20th century, the engine parts were huge. Massive triple expansion steam engines powered by huge, coal-fired boilers. There wasn’t any room for a pilot house at the stern. Plus, the pilot house at the bow allowed for better views. But unfortunately, in the late 70’s, ships were now being built with stern cabins because the engines were much smaller. They cast out a century of beautiful design in favor of floating blocks of steel with run of the mill stern cabins like you see on ocean going ships
Why did they decide to put the conveyor machinery on the bow?
What sort of propulsion system do these freighters have? I didn't see any accommodation for a prop shaft in the cargo holds ...... so, Azipod? Surely not a VSP?
The props & engines would be mounted under the superstructure, just in case she snaps. That way, if one half sinks, and the other still remains afloat,she can still motor to dry dock.
The engines are located at the stern
When will they go back to the standard design of the Controls at the front and the Funnel and other stuff at the rear?
Probably never. I really wish they would but a ship hasn’t been built like that for several decades and I doubt one will he built again, since they’ve been built like this for so long. It’s sad
Old school, pilot house forward design.
Self unloading boom is at the bow, not the wheelhouse. Bridge aft design.
Sadly, I must agree with @@BigLisaFan , the new ships is a stern ender. All they care about is money now
Will it have the barker bark
Why does the control cabin need to be so tall? And why don't they mount it up front for a better view ahead?
The wheelhouse supports the bridge at the very top of the superstructure. It’s so high because not only do they have to be able to see past the bow, but over the unloading boom. Why they don’t have it at the front is because it detracts from absolute maximum carrying capacity, which seems to be all the companies care about now.
@@falcondragonslayer Thanks for the info.
@@rael5469 that said, I really wish they would go back to the old design because ships looked better when built that way
@@falcondragonslayer I agree.
Did they ever reproduce a ship called Edmundfitzgerald.?
There was never an Edmund Fitzgerald II. And I think it would have been foolish to build one, seeing as how unlucky the original one was. Cursed to misfortune right from laucnh
And too bad they designed a boat that smashed into the Marquette Oredock because of it's design. Ore boats have a unique design for a reason.
Anyone know what the white structure is for above the bow?
What is the cost of such a freighter when completed?
giving the sad state of affairs today in this nation , 🇺🇸 , this is a great thing to see !!! 😷🤓😎👍👏 , i can still remember seeing Hulletts unloading boats where my dad worked at P&C dock co. in Conneaut Ohio !! , also in Cleveland Ohio it was an amazing sight to see one of these making its way up the twisting turning Cuyahoga river to the steel mills !!! 👍😎🇺🇸