# Interlake Steamship Company

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

## 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. 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.
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.
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. and the first built by Interlake since 1981. The ship was christened MV Mark W. Barker in Cleveland, Ohio on 1 September 2022.
In December 2020, SS Badger was acquired by the Interlake Steamship Company. 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 in long-term lay-up. 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.

## Fleet of vessels

The Interlake Steamship Company Vessels :
| name | launch date | retired | notes |
| ATB Pere Marquette 41 | 1940 | 1988 | Currently an articulated tug barge with the tug MT Undaunted Built as SS City of Midland 41 |
| MV Lee A. Tregurtha | 1942 | | Built as USS Chiwawa for the United States Navy, later renamed SS Walter A. Sterling and SS William Clay Ford (II) |
| SS Frank Armstrong | 1943 | 1987 | The fourth ship originally built for the U.S. Maritime Commission Sold for scrap to Turkish Shipbreakers in 1988 |
| MT Undaunted | 1944 | | Currently an Auxiliary Fleet Tug on the Great Lakes Built as USS Undaunted (ATA-199) |
| SS Badger | 1952 | | The last, and largest, coal-fired, steam engine car-ferry built in the United States |
| MV Kaye E. Barker | 1952 | | Built as SS Edward B. Greene, later renamed SS Benson Ford (III) |
| SS Spartan | 1952 | 1979 | Currently on long-term lay-up in Ludington, Michigan |
| Dorothy Ann-Pathfinder Tug-Barge | 1953 | | Built as SS J. L. Mauthe, later renamed Pathfinder, a self-unloading barge paired with the Z-drive tug Dorothy Ann in 1999 |
| MV Honorable James L. Oberstar | 1958 | | Built as SS Shenango II, later renamed SS Charles M. Beeghly |
| SS John Sherwin | 1958 | 2008 | Currently on long-term lay-up at the Interlake Steamship Company Dock in DeTour, Michigan |
| MV Herbert C. Jackson | 1959 | | Has always sailed for the Interlake Steamship Company |
| MV Stewart J. Cort | 1972 | | First 1000-foot vessel on the Great Lakes, the only 1000-foot vessel with pilothouse forward |
| MV James R. Barker | 1976 | | Third 1000-foot vessel on the upper Great Lakes |
| MV Mesabi Miner | 1977 | | Fourth 1000-foot vessel on the upper Great Lakes |
| MV Paul R. Tregurtha | 1981 | | Thirteenth 1000-foot vessel on the upper Great Lakes Built as MV William J. Delancey Flagship for the Interlake Steamship Company Longest ship ever to operate on Great Lakes Queen of the Lakes since 1981 |
| MG Winfield Scott (LT-805) | 1993 | 2021 | Currently on long-term lay-up in Ludington, Michigan |
| MV Mark W. Barker | 2022 | | The first Great Lakes bulk carrier to be built on the Great Lakes in more than 35 years 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. |