LUDINGTON, Mich. — Loading-ramp damage has brought an early end to the 2023 season for Lake Michigan car ferry S.S. Badger.
“We have made the difficult, and unfortunately unavoidable, decision to suspend our daily crossings for the remainder of the season,” Mark W. Barker, President of Interlake Maritime Services, parent company of the Lake Michigan Carferry, said in a message posted Tuesday on the Badger’s website. “This is not how we hoped our 70th season would end but we are fully committed to making the extensive repairs — and doing it the right way — so that we will be back better and stronger in 2024 to serve our loyal passengers and port communities.”
Badger service has been suspended since a failure of the counterweight system on the Badger’s ramp in Ludington on July 21 [see “S.S. Badger, last Great Lakes car ferry, sidelined …,” Trains News Wire, July 23, 2023]. Tuesday’s announcement says that after divers, contractors, and an engineering firm were brought in, “it became clear that the necessary repairs were extensive and would take months to clear the collapsed structure and erect a new one.”
The company said it will work to keep as much of its seasonal staff employed as possible, both in Ludington and through work with other Interlake companies.
The Badger is able to carry 600 passengers and up to 180 vehicles. Its 2023 season, which began May 18, had been scheduled to run through Oct. 9. Those holding reservations will receive full refunds.
The ship, built in 1953 for the Chesapeake & Ohio, is the last remnant of the Great Lakes fleet of railroad car ferries, the last coal-powered passenger ship on the Great Lakes, and a designated National Historic Landmark. It is a significant part of the summer economies in both Ludington and Manitowoc, Wis., because of the passenger traffic it generates.
Having read about the C&O car Ferries in Trains as a teen ager (I was 17 when she was built and living in Cincinnati) I chose to incorporate a ferry on my first vacation trip (1963) after moving to Chicago. We (wife and new son) drove to Milwaukee and used it to avoid the time to go around the south end of the lake. After the ferry,we went North to the Mackinaw area and returned via Green Bay. Our car was handed over and put on board by the crew. We could see all the freight cars already aboard. We boarded and watched as the ship closed the “door and water churned behind us precisely on the hour. We had a stateroon ao we had a nice nap after a lunch in the dining room and then watched as land again came into view. Wish I could do it agai.
We wish and hope to see you next year, dear “S.S. Badger”!.
Dr. Güntürk Üstün