First Great Lakes Built Cargo Ship Headed to Upper Peninsula

First and foremost, what's usually on a cargo ship? It's a merchant ship that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another.

I've seen cargo ships before and I can tell you that I've never been on one, and why would I?

Perhaps you might see the first Great Lakes built cargo ship heading from Wisconsin to Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

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That would be so cool to check out on the Great Lakes. This new freighter is now officially headed to the Upper Peninsula to load a bunch of stone that will be used for making concrete.

According to mlive.com:

The Mark W. Barker, a 639-foot ship built for the Interlake Steamship Company, left Sturgeon Bay, Wis., at 10:36 a.m. Central Time on Wednesday, July 27, for a 110-mile voyage north to Port Inland, Mich., where the vessel will load stone and then deliver it to Muskegon.

That's so incredible. I know this doesn't really count as a cargo ship, but the only other huge ship I've seen lately is the SS Badger in Ludington, Michigan.

The SS Badger is basically used for passengers and their vehicles and has been in service on Lake Michigan since the early '50s. The SS Badger travels between Ludington and Wisconsin.

Here's what mlive.com has to say about the Mark W. Barker:

The Barker is the first U.S.-flagged Great Lakes cargo ship since 1983 to be built in the region and is also the first built for Ohio-based Interlake in 40 years. Construction began in August 2019. The ship was built at Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding in Sturgeon Bay.

This huge cargo ship will be quite busy traveling on the Great Lakes. This ship will carry raw materials like salt, iron ore, and stone to support manufacturing around the Great Lakes region. (mlive.com)