Lake freighters, also called lakers, are bulk carriers operating on the Great Lakes of North America. Freighters typically have a long, narrow hull, a raised pilothouse, and the engine located at the rear of the ship. The lake freighter's recognizable design emerged from years of innovation in Great Lakes shipping and blended two distinct styles of ship. These vessels are traditionally called boats, despite being technically classified as ships.
Lakers have been used since the late 19th century to haul raw material from docks in the Great Lakes and St Lawrence Seaway regions to the industrial centers of Ontario, Quebec, and the American Midwest. The navigation season typically runs from late March through the following mid-January due to the formation of ice on the lakes.The largest lake freighters can travel up to and can carry as much as of bulk cargo.
, which sank in 1975, became widely known as the largest vessel to be wrecked on the Great Lakes.
History
Background The bulk shipping industry on the Great Lakes ballooned during the 1840s and 1850s. High demand for grain and copper and iron ore had been discovered in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and Minnesota. Shipping ore would not become profitable until after the opening of the Michigan State Locks (now Soo Locks) in 1855. The falls of the St. Marys River forced ships to portage their cargo around the falls. In an effort to increase shipping efficiency and profitability, Michigan representatives appealed to the federal government for funding to build a canal. The Michigan State Locks opened in 1855, seeing 1,400 tons of material pass through that year. The following year it climbed to 11,500 tons.
By the late 1860s, most bulk cargo was still carried by unpowered barges and sailing ships. Often, these ships had accessible deck hatches, useful for loading and unloading cargo. Also around this time, passenger steamboats were gaining popularity for their steam-powered shipping abilities, which were faster and more reliable.
Development of the lake freighter Shipbuilders wished to combine the open, uncluttered decks of the sailing ships and barges with the benefits of steam-powered transport. The first prototype ship designed in this fashion was the , launched in 1869. The ship was designed with a raised pilothouse at the bow and engines in the back, separated by a long deck lined with hatches. Cabins were situated near the engine and below the pilothouse. The ship had been designed specifically for the iron ore trade. The boxy hull and contiguous hold maximized carrying capacity with hatches spaced apart to match the chutes of the ore dock in Marquette, Michigan.
Early lakers often had a wooden hull, or a composite hull consisting of an oak frame wrapped in iron plating. With the depletion of high-quality timber near the lakeshore, shipbuilders increasingly opted for metal hulls. In 1881 and 1882, the first entirely iron-hulled freighters, Brunswick and , were launched.
Around this time, steel was quickly becoming a standard hull material as a result of the Bessemer process making it more affordable. The first steel-hulled freighter, Spokane, launched in 1886. Soon both iron and composite hulls were phased out. Wood was used for smaller vessels into the early 1900s.
An early variation on the lake freighter was the whaleback, designed by Alexander McDougall. These had cigar-shaped bodies that barely rose out of the water when fully loaded, and carried bulk cargo on the lakes from 1888 through 1970.
The early lake freighters required cargo to be manually unloaded, or with assistance from unloading machinery at the docks."Giant Jaws Unload Ore Ship". Popular Mechanics, May 1953, pp. 74–77. In 1902, Hennepin was the first ship to be retrofitted with self-unloading equipment, allowing its cargo to be landed in a fraction of the time.
Around 1916, vessels more or less became the standard size.
Ford Motor Company's Henry Ford II and of 1924 were the first lake freighters with diesel engines.
After World War II, several oceangoing freighters and tankers were transported to the Great Lakes and converted to bulk carriers as a way to acquire ships cheaply. The oil tanker became the bulk freighter MV Lee A. Tregurtha In addition, the freighter Outer Island was originally commissioned as LCT-203 for use as a tank landing craft during World War II.
In the mid-20th century, 300 lakers worked the lakes, but by the early 21st century, there were fewer than 140 active. By the 1990s, older and smaller self-unloaders and straight-deck freighters were converted into tug-barges.
(1974–2015 ) was the last laker built in the classic style.
Landmark vessels NameLaunchedNotesRef.R. J. Hackett1869Prototype ship considered the first lake freighter with a forward pilothouse, a long flat deck, and engine room aft.Brunswick1881First iron-hulled lake freighter.1882Followed Brunswick in advancing the design of what would become the Great Lakes boatSpokane1886First steel-hulled lake freighter.1888Originally Str. George H. Dyer, it was the first ship retrofitted to have self-unloading equipment in 1902. Hennepin sank in a storm in 1927.SS Western Reserve1890First steel bulk carrier of the classic Great Lakes design (superstructures at bow and stern). Sank in a storm in 1892.Wyandotte1908First ship built as a self-unloader.Henry Ford II, 1924First lake freighters with diesel engines.S. T. Crapo1927The last coal-fired freighter on the Great Lakes. In 1995, the ship's boiler was converted to be oil-firing. The 95-year-old ship was scrapped in 2022.Feux Follets1967Last ship to be built with a steam turbine.Stewart J. Cort1972First 1,000-footer lake freighter. Originally Hull 1173 and nicknamed "Stubby," the ship only consisted of the bow and stern sections. It was then sailed to Erie, Pennsylvania and lengthened by over 700 feet.Presque Isle1973The first 1,000-foot integrated tugboat/barge and the second 1,000 footer overall.1976First standard construction 1,000-footer.1978The most powerful freighter when launched with two engines rated at each. In 2011, it was repowered with two engines rated at 9,650 bhp (7,200 kW) each. 1981The largest ship currently on the lakes at . Types of lake freighters The many lake freighters operating on the Great Lakes can be differentiated by how they are used. They may be classified according to where they work, their design, their size, or other factors. The ships are not always exclusive to one category. These types include:
Laker – a bulk carrier operating primarily in the upper Great Lakes. Longboats – lakers noted for their slender appearance. Oreboat/Ironboat – a bulk carrier used primarily to transport iron ore and taconite pellets. Saltie – ocean-going, seawaymax vessels that access the Great Lakes through the Saint Lawrence Seaway. Self-unloader – a lake freighter equipped with self-unloading gear. Stern-ender – a lake freighter with all cabins aft. Straight decker (bulker) – a freighter built without conveyors and cranes to offload cargo, instead using port facilities. Tug-barge - a bulk carrier created by pairing barges (former self-unloaders and straight-deckers) with a tugboat. Seawaymax - a bulk carrier built to the largest dimensions still affording transit through the St Lawrence Seaway.
Some of the newer classes of lake freighters include:
– a new class of lake freighter, several of which entered service in the 2010s for Seaway Marine Transport, a division of Algoma Central. A class of vessel is created any time a new design is used to build a ship and is notable when multiple ships are built to the same design plans.Canadian company orders five lakers, Wheat Board orders two others, John Snyder, Issue #149, August 2011 The ships are used as dry-bulk lake freighters (two gearless bulk freighter and three self-unloading vessel). The first in the series, , was launched in 2013. – a new class of lake freighter delivered for Canada Steamship Lines in 2012 () and 2013 (, and ). An additional pair (CSL Welland and CSL St. Laurent) began service on the Great Lakes in 2015. – a new class of lake freighter, one of which, , was commissioned by Interlake Steamship Company and entered service on July 1, 2022.
Cargo +Average yearly cargoes 2018–2022(million tons) Iron ore 42.3 Coal 10.0 Limestone 22.9 Cement 3.4 Salt 0.9 Sand 0.5 Grain 0.3 Total 80.4Source: "Cargo Reports – Year-in-Review 2023 – U.S.-Flag Vessels"
In 2023, 81.4 million tons of cargo were shipped on the Great Lakes. The most common cargoes include taconite, limestone, grain, salt, coal, cement, gypsum, and sand. The cargo is carried in large contiguous holds, not packed into containers.
The iron ore transported from the upper Great Lakes primarily supplies the steel mills of the Midwest. Iron ore makes up a majority of the cargo shipped annually.
The 1940s saw the rise in the use of taconite pellets, as sources of higher quality ore diminished.
Other destinations include coal-fired power plants, highway department salt domes, and stone docks, where limestone is unloaded for the construction industry. U.S.-flagged freighters carried the largest portion of the trade, accounting for two-thirds of all cargo by weight. U.S. hulls carried most of the iron, limestone and cement, while Canadian boats carried most of the potash, and almost all of the salt and grain moved on the lakes.
Destination harbors, ship sizes, and legal restrictions greatly affect the pattern of haulage. Large U.S. ships hauled most of the iron ore on the lakes (79%) from U.S. mines to U.S. mills. This reflects the requirement of the Jones Act, as well as the industry using large volumes of material while being concentrated in a few large harbor locations. Salt and Canadian grain can be hauled to numerous smaller ports of either country on smaller, mostly Canadian, ships, which can also enter the St. Lawrence Seaway with the Canadian ports of Montreal and Quebec City.
Because of their deeper draft and freshwater's lower buoyancy, salties often take on partial loads. Conversely, the seaway allows smaller lakers to access the Atlantic Ocean. The larger, newer ships are restricted to the upper lakes.
Design
Lakers feature a design distinct from their ocean-going counterparts. In part due to the R. J. Hackett (1869), lake freighters typically had the bridge and associated superstructure located at the bow. Additionally, a second island would be located over the engine room in the stern. In 1974, Algosoo was the final vessel built this way on the Great Lakes.
The more recently built lakers, like CSL Niagara, have a single large superstructure island at the stern.
Lake vessels are designed with the greatest block coefficient to maximize the vessel's size in the locks within the Great Lakes/St Lawrence Seaway system. Therefore, ship designers have favored bluff bows over streamlined bows.
Another distinguishing feature of lake vessels versus ocean vessels is the cargo hatch configuration. On the lake vessels, the hatches are traditionally spaced apart. This configuration was needed to match the chutes at loading facilities.
Since Great Lakes waves do not achieve the great length or period of ocean waves, particularly compared to the waves' height, ships are in less danger of being suspended between two waves and breaking, so the ratio between the ship's length, beam and its depth can be larger than that of an ocean-going ship. The lake vessels generally have a 10:1 length to beam ratio, whereas ocean vessels are typically 7:1.