Interlake Steamship vessels getting major upgrades at Bay Shipbuilding
October 23, 08 by TheFleet
By Nathan Phelps | Source: Green Bay Press-Gazette
A Great Lakes shipping company is adding capacity to its fleet through the reactivation of a cargo ship that has been in long-term lay-up since 1981 — and Bay Shipbuilding in Sturgeon Bay is expected to do the work to get it back into service.
“We had a customer who wanted some more capacity brought on-line and we’re able to do that with the Sherwin,” said Interlake president Mark Barker.
“The interesting thing for us is the market allowed this to happen,” said Patrick O’Hern, vice president and general manager of Bay Shipbuilding Co. in Sturgeon Bay.
O’Hern said the Sherwin project is divided into several phases including:
- Adding self-unloading equipment.
- New heavy-fuel engines from Bergen, a Norwegian company, and an automated engine control system and a new propeller and reduction gear.
- Reactivation of the ship; upgrading of the pilothouse.
- Industry and Coast Guard dry dock inspection.
- Replacement of hull steel as needed.
“After being laid up for 27 years you can imagine many systems need inspection and repair,” O’Hern said. “It’s roughly a 20-month project and most of the boats we’ve been building recently are completed in less than a year.”
The Sherwin is one of two major jobs Bay Shipbuilding is carrying out for Interlake over the next two winters.
The company is also installing new Bergen engines into the 806-foot Charles M. Beeghly, which is expected to arrive in Sturgeon Bay on Nov. 24, O’Hern said.
Work on that vessel is expected to be done in early May.
The rebuilt Sherwin is expected to enter service in early 2010, Barker said.
“She’ll be very efficient … and the engines that are going in will exceed current (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) standards for engine emissions,” [Barker said.]
The cost of the project was not disclosed by Interlake.
“If the Beeghly is the anchor to winter 2008 and 2009, the Sherwin is the anchor to all of 2009,” O’Hern said. “We have another boat to build next year, so the Sherwin and hull 770 will be the bulk of business in 2009.”
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