The Great Lakes Group News

The Great Lakes Towing Company on Friday christened two new tugs in Chicago.The vessels, Illinois and Indiana, are part of a series of 10 new Damen 1907 ICE tugs built in Cleveland by Great Lakes Shipyard, a sister company to the Towing Company—both part of The Great Lakes Group.The 64’x24’x11’ tugs are each powered by two 1,000-horsepower MTU 8V4000 Tier III diesel engines, and generate over 30-tons of bollard pull. Their propulsion systems include the Canal-Marine-designed Logan FlexaDrive Hybrid power system…

“…We have built our reputation job by job, boat by boat, and tow by tow, and we intend to continue to do so.”The Great Lakes Towing Company (GLT) and the Great Lakes Shipyard are core businesses within The Great Lakes Group of Companies, based in Cleveland, on the Old River, a shipping channel that runs west from where the Cuyahoga River meets Lake Erie. Company towing operations extend from Buffalo, N.Y. in the east to Duluth, Minn. in the west. Great Lakes Towing owns and operates the largest U.S.-flagged tugboat fleet on the Great Lakes, serving more than 35 ports in all eight U.S.

As the novel coronavirus and its impacts continue to spread across America, U.S. shipbuilders, by and large, continue to build. While most yards have been deemed essential to marine transportation and/or national security and have been able to maintain operations, the situation at and around every shipyard is different, and there are several builders across the country that have had to temporarily suspend activity. In either scenario, it’s far from business as usual for America’s…

Along the 1,600-mile, ice gray arch of the St Lawrence Seaway, the 2020 Great Lakes commercial shipping season will lurch back to life on March 25 when the Soo Locks at Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. reopen.The ceremonial opening signals a passage with passable ice and the 114th Great Lakes season for its fleet of 45 venerable lakers. Most of these huge self-loading freight haulers are at least 50 years old, rust free, and fit; American steel sailing on a freshwater sea.To handle Great Lakes cargo…

Embracing and spanning the full breadth of Great Lakes geography and business mix, GLG’s Joe Starck has his multi-missioned firm looking to the future – in more ways than one.The Great Lakes Group (GLG) takes its beginnings from its 1899 incorporation by industrial icon John D. Rockefeller, who formed the Great Lakes Towing to satisfy the demands of a Midwest industrial revolution that brought bigger ships to the region. Existing vessels, unable to keep up with demand, were supplemented and replaced by a fleet of as many as 100 tugboats; the first steel tugs in the region. GLG still has a tug that was part of that original operation.

The Great Lakes Group announced recent new hires to the company’s management team: Thomas Rigolo – Shipyard General Manager; Kirsten Buccigrossi – Director, Marketing & Communications; and Emery Eiber – Quality, Health, Safety, Security, and Environment (QHSSE) Manager.Tom Rigolo is a senior shipbuilding executive with more than 25 years of experience gained from hands-on engineering and high-level leadership roles at several U.S. shipyards. Rigolo is a licensed Professional Engineer…

Facing continued growth driven by client demand, the Great Lakes Towing Company and Great Lakes Shipyard have together added 20 new employees in Q1 2016 and are looking to hire an additional 50+ employees before the end of Q4 2016. “We’re looking out for the future,” said the company’s president, Joe Starck. “We’re strategically focusing our efforts on finding, developing and training a team of professionals for a growing workforce to successfully accomplish the contracts we have now, and the potential contracts we are working on.

Financing the Municipal, Tax-Exempt Workboat Sector. Poring over any of the many marine publications that seemingly arrive daily in your mailbox or inbox, you can get an idea of the depth and breadth of the current state of U.S. commercial marine vessel shipbuilding. Given the tumult in the oil market and the number of cancellations of vessels previously on order, it can safely be said that things certainly have looked better. Beyond this, the uncertainties of a domestic maritime industry that is so inextricably entwined with oil and gas makes predictions about what comes next…

Great Lakes Group says it has reached the final stages of the routine maintenance and drydock contract on the USCG Cutter BISCAYNE BAY, the second of the USCG’s six Great Lakes-stationed 140-foot Bay-class ice-breaking tugs to be drydocked in the Group's shipyard. The mainenance project included: Hull Plating and Ultrasonic Testing Appendages and Leak Test Shaft Seal Assembly and Overhaul Rudder Assembly, Remove, Inspect and Reinstall Anchor Windlass, Level 2 Inspect and Repair Vertical Capstan, Level 2 Inspect and Repair Propulsion Shafting, Remove, Inspect, and Reinstall  Various Cleaning, Inspections, and Repairs

Great Lakes Shipyard has been awarded a contract for the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) vessel R/V Lake Explorer II. The scope of work will include drydocking, routine repairs, maintenance and upgrades, as well as design, fabrication and installation of a new bulbous bow. thegreatlakesgroup.com

The Great Lakes Towing Company hosted a WIRE-Net networking event at Great Lakes Shipyard in order to celebrate manufacturing and innovation in Cleveland and Northeast Ohio. More than 100 attendees gathered on the banks of the Cuyahoga River to connect with other manufacturing professionals, forge new relationships and continue to grow and strengthen the local manufacturing community. In addition to a cocktail reception, attendees received tours of the shipyard and detailed explanations of some of the new services/tools that Great Lakes Shipyard has added to their business offering.

Great Lakes Shipyard (GLS) informed that it has entered into a five-year agreement with B.V. Scheepswerf Damen Gorinchem authorizing the Cleveland shipyard as an official builder of Damen designs. GLS’s Damen Series is designed by Damen, built by Great Lakes Shipyard and made in the U.S.A. The agreement also provides for Damen technical services, including experienced personnel for onsite management and supervision on any and all construction projects. Now, all of the technology and know-how of Damen, including drawings, specifications and design information, is at the fingertips of Great Lakes Shipyard for the benefit of its customers in the United States.

The vessels were berthed in the yard for planned repairs and routine maintenance, as well as various inspections and miscellaneous renewals. Great Lakes Shipyard also completed industrial maintenance and winter repairs at the Cleveland Bulk Terminal at the port in Cleveland, Ohio. The work included rebuilding one of the field conveyor hoppers. Carmeuse Lime & Stone operates the Port’s Cleveland Bulk Terminal, handling iron ore and limestone that arrive by ship from other Great Lakes ports.

The Great Lakes Towing Company says it has been extremely busy providing icebreaking assistance, and Great Lakes Shipyard has started repairs and maintenance on Interlake Steamship vessels, with more vessels contracted to follow. Recently, the 140-foot USCG Bay-class Icebreaking Tug Katmai Bay (WTGB 101) was dead in the icy waters and required towing assistance to its homeport dock, and the towing company's tug Missouri was dispatched to break ice and assist it back to its dock. The Missouri is also homeported in Sault Ste Marie, Michigan to assist vessels through the U.S.

The Great Lakes Towing Company came to the aid of the United States Coast Guard Monday night in the St. Marys River just two miles east of the U.S. Coast Guard Station, Sector Sault Ste Marie, Michigan. The 140-foot Bay-class Icebreaking Tug Katmai Bay (WTGB 101) was dead in the icy waters and required towing assistance to its homeport dock. Around 10:45pm Monday night, The Towing Company Tug Missouri was dispatched to break ice and assist the USCGC Katmai Bay back to its dock two hours later. The Tug Missouri is also homeported in Sault Ste Marie, Michigan to assist vessels through the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers locks and to provide emergency rescue assistance and icebreaking when needed. The locks connect Lake Superior to Lake Huron.

The start of the winter layup season at Great Lakes Shipyard is marked by the arrival of Interlake Steamship Company’s articulated tug-barge Dorothy Ann and Pathfinder. The ATB will remain berthed in the yard for planned repairs and routine maintenance, as well as various inspections and miscellaneous renewals.   Other winter layup and repair work scheduled for this winter will include Inland Lakes Management’s S/S Alpena, American Steamship Company’s M/V Sam Laud, and McKeil Marine’s Tug Leonard M and Barge Huron Spirit.   thegreatlakesgroup.com

Great Lakes Shipyard announced the installation of a new state-of-the-art plasma cutting machine, the Plate Pro Extreme 3100. The addition of this cutting table expands the range of services available to its customers and improves the efficiency of Great Lakes Shipyard operations, while also enhancing the quality and precision of the work being produced. Bringing this capability in-house allows the Shipyard to make more of its own parts without relying on outside vendors or subcontractors.

Designed by Jensen Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, and built by the Great Lakes Shipyard of Cleveland, Ohio a 74-foot workboat is quickly making a name for itself; in and out of the water. The “HandySize” Class Tug was designed to fill the niche between the 2,400 to 3,200 HP market for harbor workboats, fireboats, and construction operations and coastal towing, too. The Tug model 2800 is powered by two Cummins QSK38,1400HP diesel engines rated at 1800 rpm, providing a total of 2,800 HP – or in order words, just right for those niche tasks assigned to a Great Lakes workboat.

Miller Boat Line’s ferry, M/V South Bass, is receiving its routine five-year drydocking and USCG inspection at Great Lakes Shipyard. The vessel was hauled out using the Marine Travelift, and the work on the vessel will be completed in two to three weeks. This marks the first time Great Lakes Shipyard has performed work on the M/V South Bass. Since 2010, repairs have been performed on all of the other ferries in the Miller Boat Line fleet, including routine five-year drydockings…

Great Lakes Shipyard is completing the replacement of the main propulsion control system on the United States Coast Guard Cutter Mobile Bay. This work marks the final installation under a five-year contract with the USCG’s Engineering Logistics Center, Baltimore, Md. This contract included installation of new main propulsion control systems for the entire fleet of nine 140-foot Bay Class of Ice Breaking tugs. The Shipyard’s mobile vessel crew is conducting the work on-site in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin and is to be completed in early October.

Great Lakes Shipyard was awarded a contract by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), an agency of the Department of the Interior, for the five-year drydocking and inspection of the RV Spencer F. Baird. The Shipyard hauled out the RV Spencer F. Baird using the 770-ton Marine Travelift. Work includes drydocking, a complete exterior repainting, bow thruster replacement, its five-year survey and other miscellaneous repairs. The project is expected to be complete by early November, 2013. Operated by the U.S.

Great Lakes Shipyard was awarded a contract by Whiskey Island Marina to fabricate a new floating breakwater. The Shipyard will fabricate two 150’ long steel cylindrical modules that will be bolted together and anchored in the lake bottom in front of the marina. The project is to be completed by mid-November. The 10-foot diameter breakwater is used for wake attenuation to protect the boats and docks in the marina basin from heavy weather and is ballasted to the 6.5’ waterline. The Shipyard built a similar floating breakwater for Perry’s Landing Marina, Erie PAin 2010.

The Great Lakes Towing Company and Great Lakes Shipyard will celebrate their 115th anniversary with the delivery of two new 4,640HP FIFI 1 ASD tugs. Designed by Jensen Maritime Consultant, Inc., Seattle, Washington, the tugs AURA and ATLAS are built to the highest standards of the American Bureau of Shipping, the U.S. vessel classification society. The tugs were launched using the Shipyard’s 770-ton Travelift. Founded by John D. Rockefeller on July 7, 1899, the company’s founding shareholders were the major industrialists at the turn of the century.