By Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief
Sunday, June 15, 2025
MANISTEE, Mich. — The Port of Manistee has been abuzz with ship watchers the last two days as two River Class freighters visited. The MV Calumet arrived about 9:40 p.m. Saturday and left about 12 hours later. Shortly after Calumet’s departure, MV Great Republic made its seasonal debut in Manistee.
According to ship watcher Chris Franckowiak, on the Manistee, MI Vessel Traffic Facebook page, Calumet was delivering coal to the TES site along Manistee Lake in Filer City. The Great Republic was delivering coal from South Chicago at the Morton Salt site along Manistee Lake. A shout out to Chris for the information. It is greatly appreciated and very helpful.
I enjoy photographing ships up and down the east shore of Lake Michigan. Each port has its interesting elements. But, the Manistee River is definitely my favorite shooting spot. The mastery of the ship’s captains and crews is exemplified while navigating between the two bridges en-route to Manistee Lake and then back to Lake Michigan.
MV Calumet
The MV Calumet was built by American Shipbuilding Co. in Lorain, Ohio in 1973 for the Union Commerce Bank, Ohio, managed by Kinsman Marine Transit. It was originally christened as the William R. Roesch. It sailed for Pringle Transit Company, a subsidiary of Oglebay-Norton Marine, from 1976 to 1994. In 1994, it was transferred to Oglebay-Norton, which, in 1995, renamed it David Z. Norton, in honor of the company’s founder.
In 2006, Oglebay-Norton’s fleet of River Class ships were sold to Grand River Navigation and the Wisconsin and Michigan Steamship Co. Its name was then changed to David Z. In 2008, it was sold to Rand Logistics, Inc. of Jersey City, NJ and renamed Calumet after the original Calumet that was built in 1929 for US Steel and scrapped in 2007. The ship is now operated by Grand River Navigation Co. of Traverse City, a division of Rand Logistics.
The Calumet is 630 feet long, 68 feet wide and has a depth of 36-feet, 11-inches. It is propelled by two Alco V16 diesel engines and can run up to 14 knots (16 mph).
Its sister ship is the Manitowoc, which makes frequent visits to Manistee.
MV Great Republic
The MV Great Republic is operated by Great Lakes Fleet, Inc. of Duluth, Minn. and is managed by Key Lakes, Inc. It was built by Bay Shipbuilding Co. of Sturgeon Bay, Wis., in 1981. It was originally named the American Republic and was operated by American Steamship Co. In 2011 Great Lakes Fleet obtained the contract to operate the ship.
It was the final of four similar River Class ships constructed by Bay Shipbuilding Co. The other three were the Sam Laud, Buffalo and American Courage. The Republic was specifically designed to navigate the Cuyahoga River, being built to run taconite pellets from the Lorain Pellet Terminal and Cleveland Lakefront Docks to the steel mills upriver on the Cuyahoga. It was capable of carrying around 20,000 tons on her shuttles up the Cuyahoga River, more than other vessels are capable of carrying up the river.
It operates with two 20-645-E7 diesel engines manufactured by General Motors Electro-Motive Division in Chicago. Its horsepower rating is 7,200 BHP. It is 623 feet, 3 inches in length; 68 feet wide and has a depth of 40-feet. It has a loaded draft of 28 feet, 4 inches and a capacity of 24,800 tons. Is has a loop-belt self-unloader with an aft-mounted self-unloading boom arm that is 251 feet, 6 inches, six cargo holds and 21 hatches.
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