HSC Lake Express

Lake Express is a high-speed auto and passenger ferry that is in service on a route across Lake Michigan. Lake Express links the cities of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Muskegon, Michigan, from late spring to the fall of each year.

Background
The ship travels at a top speed of 34 kn and makes the 68 nmi trip three times daily from each side of the lake during the peak of its operational schedule. Lake Express is able to cross the lake in two and a half hours. It was constructed by Austal USA in Mobile, Alabama, and began service on June 1, 2004. It was one of the first high-speed catamaran-style auto/passenger ferries built in the United States. It was also the first high-speed auto ferry to see service on the Great Lakes, beating out the Spirit of Ontario I, which was beset by a series of last-minute delays, by one month.

On August 21, 2005, the ferry rescued a man whose boat had capsized in the middle of Lake Michigan.