• TheThe American Century, a 1,000-foot-long bulk carrier, has sailed the Great Lakes for nearly a half century and is a symbol of US industrial primacy, but the industry is facing challenges due to US tariffs and a rift between Ottawa and Washington.

• Vessel traffic at Duluth-Superior is down 23% from a year earlier, with coal volumes and iron ore shipments also decclining, and the trade war between the US and Canada is threatening to disrupt supply chains across the region.

• The Great Lakes and the St Lawrence Seaway are a crucial trade route, with 200 million tons of cargo moving annually, and the region’s economy is highly integrated, with $6 trillion in economic activity, but the trade war is causing uncertainty and disruption to the industry.

By Bloomberg News

THE AMERICAN CENTURY often draws a crowd when the ship pulls into the Port of Duluth-Superior to load Minnesota iron ore. Kids cheer when the captain blasts the horn. A voice on the loudspeaker retells the story of how the 1,000-foot-long bulk carrier has sailed the Great Lakes for nearly a half century.

It’s a momentary flashback to the waning days of US industrial primacy. The vessel was built in 1981 in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, and runs on four General Motors Co. diesel engines that generate more horsepower than a dozen Formula 1 cars. It set records for coal payloads in the 1990s. The current owner is American Steamship Co., a unit of Mainstay Maritime that’s based in Williamsville, New York, and was founded in Buffalo in 1907.

But for all the Made-in-America pride, aging “lakers” like American Century have depended on a regional economy that moved in lockstep with Canada. Coal volumes have hit hard times, and US tariffs have disrupted trade in iron ore. Adding to the uncertainty now is a rift between Ottawa and Washington that threatens lasting damage to supply chains across land and water geared for free-flowing commerce.

“Hope isn’t a strategy, but we would expect that this trade war comes to an end at some point and we can get back to regular business,” said Kevin Beardsley, executive director of the Duluth Seaway Port Authority, located less than 200 miles from the Canadian border. “Canada is looking at different supply chains and that type of thing, and that is a risk the longer this goes on.”

President Donald Trump has offered mixed messages recently, saying in Ireland last weekend that there may be a deal with Canada “fairly soon” but issued fresh threats when asked this week about Ottawa’s overtures to the European Union. Prime Minister Mark Carney told Bloomberg News on Monday that Canada is “ready to sit down” for talks.

That would come as welcome relief to those who depend on waterborne cargo between by both countries.

Through August, vessel traffic at Duluth-Superior was down 23% from a year earlier, according to data provided by the port. Visits by US-flagged ships fell about 19% and arrivals by Canadian carriers sank 37%. Coal volumes totaled 4.7 million tons in 2025 and are on track to reach just 500,000 tons this year, the lowest level since 1973.

While the overall drop is blamed mostly on the closure of a coal terminal, there’s also less northbound tonnage of iron ore, the steel-making feedstock mined near Duluth in the US’s richest iron ranges, hauled across the lakes and delivered these days mostly to mills in Ohio or Indiana. Trump’s tariffs on the metal have done significant damage to Canada’s steel sector.

Domestic iron ore shipments from Duluth-Superior are running 40% below the 2025 pace.

The biggest of the Great Lakes ports by tonnage, Duluth-Superior sits on the western edge of a 2,300-mile (3,700-kilometer) trade route that includes the St. Lawrence Seaway, all connected by locks. The maritime borders between the countries extend across Lake Superior, Huron, Erie and Ontario, and a stretch of the St. Lawrence River that eventually spills into a gulf near the Atlantic Ocean north of Nova Scotia.

With about two-fifths of the US-Canada border going across water, 200 million tons of cargo — bulk commodities including coal, grain, iron ore, limestone, salt, sand and stone — move annually on the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence. By comparison, American railroads haul about 1.5 billion tons of raw materials and finished goods a year.

“Over decades and decades of time, the Great Lakes, the states and the provinces have become a hugely integrated – the third-largest economy in the world if it was a country,” with $6 trillion in economic activity across the region, said Ian Hamilton, president and CEO of the Hamilton-Oshawa Port Authority, or HOPA, a marine port network on Lake Ontario near Toronto.

Lately his US counterparts are “all kind of scratching their heads going, ‘Why are we disrupting this integrated market?’” Hamilton said of the recent volley of tariffs. “We’ve crossed the borders to drink in each other’s bars and eat other’s food and vacation at each other’s properties.”

Among the strategies to diversify its dependence away from the US, HOPA is working with the city of Sault Ste. Marie — an Ontario industrial town that’s home to a troubled steel mill — to propose a new port there and develop road and rail infrastructure to better link the resource-rich areas of Canada with domestic consumer markets and trading partners overseas.

The US economy can probably get by with fewer imports from Canada, but such dislocations might get expensive. “I certainly appreciate that the United States could probably survive on less trade with Canada, but I also think that ultimately drives up the costs for everybody,” Hamilton said.

While politicians and trade negotiators squabble, the day-to-day management of the Great Lakes-Seaway system is shared between the governments. Canada controls 13 locks and the US oversees two.

In a speech in late August, Lana Payne, national president of labor group Unifor, credited Canadians with building the seaway, though the major upgrades in the 1950s were a joint effort after Washington’s initial hesitance.

“Canada was feeling really good — it had made a huge contribution to the Second World War and it really felt it was mature,” said Ron Stagg, a retired Toronto Metropolitan University professor and author of a 2010 book on the seaway’s history.

As the engineering plans began to take shape, Canadian officials told the US, “if you don’t want to participate, we’re going to do it ourselves. So the US said, maybe we’ll take part, too,” Stagg said.

Territorial questions have resurfaced. Recently a social media campaign pushed for Canadians to declare sovereignty over the “Strait of Our Moose”.

That’s a reference to the Welland Canal, which sits on the Canadian side of the border and connects Lake Erie with Lake Ontario — it’s how ships get around Niagara Falls. The campaign is also a dig at Trump’s inability so far to restore trade flows through the Strait of Hormuz in the US war with Iran.

Still, the Canadian waterways are unlikely to become weaponized chokepoints during a full-blown trade war: Navigating the St. Lawrence River “shall forever remain free and open for the purposes of commerce to the citizens of the United States,” according to the 1871 Treaty of Washington signed by Great Britain and the US.

Yet tensions do exist in regional shipping, and they go deeper than the recent tariff exchanges between Carney and Trump. US-flagged vessel owners say they’re competing on an unlevel playing field because of rules that favor their Canadian rivals.

Jim Weakley, president of the Lake Carriers’ Association, a Westlake, Ohio-based group representing US shipping companies, declined to comment about the trade dispute, saying it “has not impacted binational maritime trade on the Great Lakes.” That’s partly because most business is conducted in long-term contracts and the spot market is too thin to see any impact, according to Weakley.

A broader issue facing his members has echoes of the Trump administration’s reasons for going after Canada and other trading partners – accusations of unfairness and an openness to China.

“Canada has flagging laws, regulations and practices that endanger the economic viability, efficiency and service reliability of the US-flagged Great Lakes fleet’s binational trade that also has resulted in the shrinking of the US-flagged Great Lakes fleet,” according to a position paper Weakley sent via email.

The disparity “has created a Canadian monopoly on the binational Great Lakes trade,” according to the paper, which lists several grievances, including Canadian support for “the growth of the Chinese shipping building empire and receiving ships that have been subsidized by the Chinese government.”

It’s not that Canadian operators prefer to buy their vessels from China’s producers, said Jason Card, vice president of external affairs with the Chamber of Marine Commerce, a binational group in Ottawa representing ship owners, port operators and other stakeholders.

“It’s difficult to find a shipyard that’s willing to build a laker vessel” because of the unique narrow design and limited orders, said Card, who voiced support for the Trump administration’s efforts to revive American shipbuilding. “There’s not a desire to build far from home, it’s just been the reality for the past several years that there’s no available capacity.”

Card said US carriers have, over the years, largely focused on shipping coal and iron ore through the western lakes with their older and bigger vessels, while the Canadians grew to dominate areas where smaller boats are needed to traverse the locks.

“Unfortunately in the current situation, there’s a pinch on steel, and coal is going out of fashion,” he said.

That’s been a stark reality for local businesses that see ships like American Century as economic workhorses. At the Duluth port authority, Beardsley notes that Duluth-Superior terminals saw iron ore volumes last year drop by about 3 million tons from a year earlier, mostly because of weaker exports to Canada.

Higher-value breakbulk cargo — like sections of giant wind turbines or industrial machinery — is increasing, though, with the help of an energy sector supplying oil, gas and wind projects spanning the middle of North America. “We’re hoping that the two countries can come to an understanding and an agreement that’s really mutually beneficial to binational trade,” he said. “That’s the key to success for our port and the region.”

Bloomberg

IRONTON, MI  – The 100-year anniversary of the cable ferry Charlevoix was observed at Ironton, MI, on Sept. 12. The Charlevoix was built in 1926 by the Johnston Brothers yard in Ferrysburg, MI. Construction was complete in just a few months and the Charlevoix has been in consistent operation since June 1926.

The five-minute ferry crossing saves about 30 minutes of drive time around a narrow part of Lake Charlevoix. A ferry service has existed between these two points since 1878. The original ferry could carry a single wagon and its team of horses.

The Charlevoix has no rudders and is guided by two cables running 25 feet below the surface to allow other boats to pass by. The vessel can carry four automobiles at a time.

In 1936, Ripley’s “Believe It or Not” profiled Sam Alexander, the man who had travelled 15,000 miles while never being 1,000 feet away from his own home. Alexander worked the service from 1890 to 1941.

Interestingly, the Charlevoix is the youngest active hull built by the Johnston yard, which dates back to 1859 as a marine boiler fabricator. Johnston began building ships to complement the boiler business in 1897. A tragic fire in June 1916 prompted the end of shipbuilding.

The Charlevoix came a decade after the boiler company formally ended shipbuilding operations as a special project. Johnston’s bid came in lower than others and so they were awarded the work.

In total, Johnston Brothers built 71 documented hulls. The Charlevoix is 1 of 11 that still exist in some capacity. Most notable is the former fish tug H. J. Dornbos which was built in 1901 for the Verduin family and today is on the National Register of Historic Places as the New York State Canal tug Urger.

Samuel Hankinson

CLEVELAND, OH – The Sault Historic Sites Capt. John P. Wellington Great Lakes Marine Hall of Fame recognized the significant contributions of James H.I. Weakley, President of the Lake Carriers’ Association (LCA) on Friday, Sept. 11 in Sault Ste Marie, MI

The award is given every other year alternating between U.S. and Canadian nominees.

Jim Weakley has served as LCA President for almost 25 years leading the U.S.-flagged fleet on the Great Lakes through advocacy, Congressional engagement, and public awareness.  His notable accomplishments include the construction of the new Soo Lock in Sault Ste Marie, Michigan, arguably the largest and most impactful infrastructure project ever on the Great Lakes.  Jim was instrumental in solving the “Dredging Crisis” increasing and sustaining nearly 10 times more funding for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers while designating the Great Lakes as a recognized navigation system.

This year’s induction ceremony was a tremendous success with over 100 attendees including federal agency and local government leaders, industry representatives both past and present, and six former Hall of Fame inductees. Thanks to the Port of Monroe, Enbridge, and American Maritime Officers along with several other sponsors the event raised significant funds which will support the ongoing work of the Sault Historical Sites.

About Great Lakes Marine Hall of Fame
The Great Lakes Hall of Fame is dedicated to the memory of those explorers, inventors, shipbuilders, sailors, and countless others who have made a contribution of exploration and development of the Great Lakes through the eras of sail, steam, and present.  Their bravery, their talents, and their ideas have powered the development of the Great Lakes transportation system, thus opening the heart of North America to settlement and commerce.  The skill and dedication of these people and thousands of others was needed to fulfill the tremendous potential of the Great Lakes.

The complete list of previous awardees can be found here.

Lake Carriers’ Association

 

SUPERIOR, WI – University of Wisconsin-Superior is launching a new classroom, but it’s not just four walls, desks and a whiteboard – this one floats. The university’s new two-level teaching and research vessel, the Sadie Ann, set sail for Superior on Aug. 30. After a roughly 40-day trip, its arrival culminates a yearslong effort initiated by an anonymous grant in 2019 that kick-started the project.

The Sadie Ann, a 65-foot-long aluminum catamaran — a watercraft with two parallel hulls — can carry up to 49 passengers. Students will be able to go on excursions on the Sadie Ann with their classes, and campus researchers will sail it on the St. Louis River and the U.S. waters of western Lake Superior to conduct experiments.

“The way people really learn best is to get out on the water to be able to touch it, feel it, sample it, look at the water from a different perspective,” said Matt TenEyck, director of the Lake Superior Research Institute, which operates the Sadie Ann. “We invite all disciplines, all organizations, all community members, governmental agencies to work with us and to collaborate with us on whatever program they want to deliver.”

The Sadie Ann replaces the L.L. Smith, the research vessel UW-Superior retired in 2012. A University of Minnesota Duluth Research Vessel, the Blue Heron, is also docked in Superior.

The Sadie Ann’s main deck has wet and dry labs, a moon pool opening and fold-down diving platforms at water level that researchers and students can use to take samples. The second deck has a 300-square-foot classroom with internet access, large windows and movable seating. The Sadie Ann is a hybrid vessel, powered by two diesel engines, and two electric motors and a battery pack. “We really want to be on the cutting edge and help advance the technology,” TenEyck said.

The vessel will serve all ages, from area K-12 students to UW-Superior students, TenEyck said.

And the teaching on the Sadie Ann also won’t stop at scientific research and water sampling, he said. Professors in the communications and music departments, as well as community organizations, have expressed interest in using the ship, he said. The Sadie Ann could also host yoga or other health and wellness activities for students.

The Sadie Ann’s delivery crew sailed overnight for the first time Sept. 3, on day five of its trip from Midship Marine boatyard in Harvey, Louisiana, en route to Clearwater, Florida. It then will head north along the Atlantic Coast before beginning the next leg of its journey, up the St. Lawrence River and into the Great Lakes, where it will eventually be docked at the Montreal Pier in Superior. Once the Sadie Ann arrives, a captain UW-Superior hired will lead the vessel’s voyages: Dean Marshall, will join part of the Sadie Ann’s trip to Wisconsin to learn the ins and outs of the ship, TenEyck said.

The exact arrival date will be dependent on the weather, TenEyck said. “If we don’t get to a full-fledged public celebration now, for sure we’ll have one in the spring,” he said. “There’s no doubt about it.”

There were some bumps and delays in getting the Sadie Ann to its launch date, TenEyck said. The U.S. Coast Guard has certified the Sadie Ann after several levels of inspections and safety tests that took longer than anticipated to complete, he said. A 76-day partial government shutdown that ended in April, suspending the Coast Guard’s non-emergency operations, also delayed paperwork needed to begin Sadie Ann’s homecoming.

Students will be able to go on excursions on the Sadie Ann with their classes, and campus researchers will be able to take it on the St. Louis River and the U.S. waters of western Lake Superior to conduct experiments.

The vessel is named after Sadie Ann Bashara Swenson, whose family has strong ties to UW-Superior. She was a student at UW-Superior in the early 1930s and a mother of eight children. She died in 1955. Her son, Jim Swenson and his wife, Sue, founded the Swenson Family Foundation, which funded the construction of the Sadie Ann alongside other private donations to support its operations.

Another of Sadie Ann Swenson’s sons, Bill Swenson, is an emeritus professor of biology and associate of the Lake Superior Research Institute. The vessel’s namesake is after Sadie Ann Bashara Swenson, whose family has strong ties to UW-Superior. She was a student at UW-Superior in the early 1930s and a mother to eight children.

Sabine Martin | Wisconsin State Journal Sep 12, 2026

 

The National Weather Service has gale warnings in place for Lake Michigan, Lake Superior and Lake Huron, with winds expected to reach 40 knots and produce waves from 12 feet. A small craft advisory has been issued for Saginaw Bay and a beach hazards statement was issued along the shoreline of lakes Michigan and Huron. A wind advisory for the Keweenaw Peninsula says gusts could reach 55 mph Tuesday morning.

The warnings are in effect until 5 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 15. The weather service said people should avoid swimming and walking on piers and docks on the water’s edge. “Mariners should alter plans to avoid these hazardous conditions. Remain in port, seek safe harbor, alter course, and/or secure the vessel for hazardous conditions,” the NWS warning says.

The S.S. Badger has canceled both of its planned crossings on Lake Michigan scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 15, because of forecasts calling for gale-force winds and 21-foot waves. “For the safety and comfort of our passengers, based on the marine weather forecast, Lake Michigan Carferry (LMC) has cancelled both of the crossings on TUESDAY, September 15th (Ludington, MI (9:00 am EST) and the Manitowoc, WI (2:00 pm CST)) on the SS Badger,” the Lake Michigan Carferry Co. said in a Facebook post on Monday, Sept. 14.

Lansing State Journal

For the safety and comfort of our passengers, based on the marine weather forecast, Lake Michigan Carferry (LMC) has cancelled both of the crossings on Tuesday, September 15th (Ludington, MI (9:00 am EST) and the Manitowoc, WI (2:00 pm CST)) on the SS Badger. The Lake Michigan weather forecast is predicting gale force wind conditions with waves of 12-16 feet with the occasional 21 ft.

LMC understands the disappointment and inconvenience this decision causes and apologizes for the impact it has on travel plans. While we are always committed to delivering an exceptional and comfortable cross-lake travel experience, lake conditions will make it impossible to do so in this instance. Our customer service and reservation team are ready to offer alternatives designed to ensure your satisfaction and minimize this disruption to your travel plans.

The SS Badger is expected to sail on Wednesday, September 16th.

Lake Michigan Carferry

Polsteam Ros, a new 36,700-tonne Lakermax vessel, has been officially christened and has embarked on its inaugural voyage. The Polsteam Ros will begin its inaugural voyage by sailing through the Chinese ports of Zhenjiang and Tianjin. It will then head to Providence, on the east coast of the United States, before continuing to Thorold, Canada, in the Great Lakes region.

The ship’s godmother was Ewa Florczyk, head of the insurance department at Polsteam, while the captain Jarosław Drewkowski took the helm.
“The delivery and christening of another Lakermax vessel mark an important milestone in the continued modernization of the Polish company’s fleet and represent a new step in the expansion of our fleet of ships designed to operate in the demanding waters of the Great Lakes. We wish the crew of Polsteam Ros safe voyages, favorable winds, and a safe return to port,” the shipyard said in a statement.

Polsteam Ros is a 36,700-tonne heavy-duty vessel built by Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Company (DSIC) in China. Measuring 200 meters long and 24 meters wide, the ship was specifically designed to trade between the world’s oceans and the North American Great Lakes. Ships of this type must meet strict dimensional restrictions – up to 200 meters long and about 24 meters wide – in order to safely navigate the narrowest channels of the Great Lakes route.
René Beauchamp

CLEVELAND — U.S. shipments of limestone on the Great Lakes totaled 3 million tons in August, a 1.7 percent increase from last year.  Limestone cargos were below the month’s 5-year average by 1.5 percent. Year-to-date, the U.S. Great Lakes limestone trade stands at 13.1 million tons, a 1.9 percent decrease compared to 2025 and 3.6 percent below the month’s 5-year average.

Lake Carriers’ Association

MANISTEE, MI – A piece of Great Lakes history recently resurfaced nearly a century after an ill-fated railroad car ferry was lost in Lake Michigan. The S.S. Milwaukee went down in 1929 with 52 people on board; there were no survivors. An original life ring from the ship was recently recovered from a rummage sale. “Something like this does not come

along very often,” said Robby Laurain, executive director of the Society for the Preservation of the S.S. City of Milwaukee, the sunken ship’s successor, which is now a museum ship permanently docked in Manistee.

Operated by the Grand Trunk Milwaukee Car Ferry Company, the S.S. Milwaukee carried railroad cars across Lake Michigan between Milwaukee, Wis., and Grand Haven. On Oct. 22, 1929, the ship departed Milwaukee into a severe Lake Michigan storm, encountered heavy seas, began taking on water and sank.

One of the S.S. Milwaukee’s life rings was found this summer – 97 years after the ship sank – by Matthew Thompson, a former S.S. City of Milwaukee tour guide and Manistee’s Ghost Ship volunteer, the society announced. Recognizing the historical significance of his find, Thompson purchased the life ring and offered it for display in the S.S. City of Milwaukee museum on an indefinite loan.

Work is underway to build a display case and interpretive sign for the life ring, Laurain said. It should be ready for the 2027 season.

The S.S. City of Milwaukee was built in 1930-31 to replace the S.S. Milwaukee. The City of Milwaukee began its service in 1931 as a steam-powered Lake Michigan ferry, transporting both railcars and passengers. Retired in 1982, it is now a museum ship, boatel and event venue. It was named a National Historic Landmark in 1990. The museum and boatel are currently closed for the season and will reopen next spring. The next chance to step aboard the S.S. City of Milwaukee will be during Manistee’s Ghost Ship event in October.

A $1 million fundraiser is currently underway for hull preservation work that will require dry docking at Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding in Sturgeon Bay, Wis.

M Live. Read more here.

CHIPPEWA COUNTY, MI – A new buoy in Lake Superior is giving people real-time access to weather, wave and water quality conditions in Whitefish Bay, providing new information for boaters, fishermen and researchers.

is giving people real-time access to weather, wave and water quality conditions in Whitefish Bay, providing new information for boaters, fishermen and researchers.

“This project came about as looking at Lake Superior as a whole, in the eastern end of Lake Superior and our climate is changing and then Bay Mills is also a fishing community and relies heavily on Lake Whitefish or Ticketmeg,” said Jessica Wesolek, air quality environmental response specialist.

The Bay Mills Indian Community and Freeboard Technology teamed up on the project. It will make data more accessible to the community with a real-time weather and wave buoy system in Whitefish Bay.

The buoy is about five nautical miles offshore. This isn’t the only buoy system in the area, though.

“This will be used for a couple different things, so we’ll be out there for the community so they can check the wind and wave conditions,” said Wesolek. “You know, as I said before, it’s a fishing community so it really matters what the weather is like when they go out there. The buoy has not only wind speed but wave height and also max wave height within a 10-minute span.”

On top of the water temperatures and weather conditions, the buoy cam video also tells a story.

“There’s a biology component to the monitoring with just looking at how much sediment is in the water, turbidity, how brown is the water, looking at chlorophyll measurement, what’s growing in the water, algae, which are good,” said Edward Verhamme, senior project engineer at Limno Tech. “We want algae growing at Lake Superior. It’s the base of the food chain.”

“It records video for 25 to 30 seconds every hour,” Wesolek said. “So they can actually see what the conditions are even when it’s foggy because fog can roll in, you know, whenever and then the water quality side of things so it measures a sweep of different things from the surface to the bottom.

The real-time data available to the public will be useful for the fishing industry.

WPBN/WGTU – See the data here.