Today MCP and Great Lakes Boat Blog launch a new series on Interlake Logistics Solutions, which operates the tug/barge Undaunted/Pere Marquette 41, based out of Ludington. We begin with general manager, Chuck Leonard.
By Mark Varenhorst, MCP Contributor
LUDINGTON — Over the decades Ludington has had a long history with the car ferries that have sailed the waters of Lake Michigan. There was the Flint & Pere Marquette Railway, the Pere Marquette Railway, then the C&O (Chesapeake & Ohio) and later, when the C&O merged with the B&O (Baltimore and Ohio), there was the Chessie System. Once Chessie left the ferry business it was the State of Michigan that tried running the ferries a short while and then local business men Glenn Bowden and George Towns bought the ferries and the company became Michigan-Wisconsin Transportation (M-WT). In the early 1990s, Lake Michigan Carferry was formed by Charles Conrad, changing the service, utilizing the SS Badger, into a passenger/automobile service from Ludington to Manitowoc, Wis. In 2020, the service was sold to Interlake Maritime Services which operates it under the same LMC name.
Many do not know near as much about the tug/barge operation that has called Ludington home for quite some time. I had a chance to sit with Chuck Leonard, general manager of Interlake Logistics Solutions, which is the company that operates the tug Undaunted and the barge Pere Marquette 41 (also known as PM 41). Just in talking to Chuck you can feel the love he has for the train ferries that called Ludington home and the City of Midland 41 in particular. The tug is the former City of Midland car ferry.
We traded stories while I came to find out how he came to be with ILS. Chuck originally worked on the City of Midland car ferry while it was operated by M-WT. He performed many different functions as they were needed in the operation.
When the ferry service shut down Chuck went into different work. But, upon hearing the Badger was possibly being brought back into service, he asked to come to work on the ferries again.
As LMC ran the Badger and the ferry operation, it formed a new business, Pere Marquette Shipping Co. This is the tug/barge operation formed with the purchase of the tug Undaunted and the transformation of the City of Midland into a barge. The City of Midland was chosen for the barge by the owners as the Badger’s sister ship, SS Spartan (also out of service laid up) was a parts source for the Badger. The Badger was functional and the Midland required much costly repair. Over time Chuck found himself moving from regular operations and maintenance-type duties towards management.
The tug Undaunted is a veteran. She served in World War II as an ATA, an auxiliary ocean tug with the ability to pull damaged vessels to safety. She has battle ribbons to show for her service and they are still displayed.
The Midland was a veteran car ferry that found a new calling as a barge and now travels all over the Great Lakes. These two, along with Chuck, and all the employees involved now operate as Interlake Logistic Solutions out of Ludington, a subsidiary of Interlake Maritime Services of Ohio. Chuck, as general manager, arranges contracts, cargos and transportation working in hand with Interlake Steamship Marketing.
The Undaunted works with a crew of 12, although there are 18 employees. Six at a time will swap out so there is not as much continuity for the crew. The Undaunted is diesel powered and as it travels the lakes fuel trucks will meet it at the docks with anywhere from 7,500 to 12,000 gallons of fuel. The pair (Undaunted/PM/41) travel all over the lakes as far north as Duluth, Minn. and east through the St. Lawrence Seaway to New York state.
Chuck has 39 years of service at this point connected to the PM41 in one form or another. It was easy to see he is quite proud of his connection with the ferries, the 41 boat, the Undaunted and the Ludington operation in one form or another. It is interesting the three veterans of lake service are now operating together at ILS. The Undaunted, PM41 and Chuck Leonard.
Chuck explained what types of cargo they haul and their usual routes and how things work on the tug/barge. Types of cargo include gypsum, agricultural lime, scrap steel, pig iron, synthetic gypsum, steel coils, steel slabs, pilings, armor stone, construction aggregate, slag, decorative stone, sand, wood chips and over-dimensional cargos. Those are just some of the things they have hauled.
In later parts of this series I hope to talk to members of the crew and hear of their experiences, life and memories of the travels of the Undaunted/41 from a deck plates view. Stay tuned, more to follow.
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