Interlake Steamship Company

The Interlake Steamship Company is an American freight ship company that operates a fleet on the Great Lakes in North America. It is now part of Interlake Maritime Services.

The company is chaired by James R. Barker, with his son, Mark W. Barker, serving as President. Paul R. Tregurtha serves as Vice-Chairman of the company.

History
The firm was founded in 1913 when a consortium of firms bought out the seventeen vessels of the Gilchrist Company, which had gone into receivership. The other firms were: the Lackawanna Steamship Company, the Acme Steamship Company, the Standard Steamship Company, the Provident Steamship Company and the Huron Barge Company. The combined fleet operated 56 vessels.

When Interlake launched its largest vessel, MV William J. Delancey (now MV Paul R. Tregurtha), its fleet contained 151 vessels, and was capable of carrying over three million tons of cargo at one time.

In early 2018, Interlake established a subsidiary service known as Interlake Logistics Solutions. Although its existing freight services were focused on bulk raw materials, the new service offered shipping of finished goods. The Barker and Tregurtha families, owners of Interlake Steamship, chartered the 418 ft, 14000 ST barge Montville to provide this new service on an as-needed basis.

In April 2019, Interlake Steamship announced construction of a 639 ft long, 75 ft wide River-class self-unloading bulk freighter. The vessel, built by Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, was the first U.S.-flagged, Jones Act-compliant ship built on the Great Lakes since 1983. and the first built by Interlake since 1981. The ship was christened MV Mark W. Barker in Cleveland, Ohio on 1 September 2022.

In December 2020, SS Badger was acquired by the Interlake Steamship Company. The deal also included acquisition of the tug USS Undaunted (ATA-199) (renamed MT Undaunted), deck barge SS City of Midland 41 (renamed ATB Pere Marquette 41), and SS Badger sister ship SS Spartan, currently not in operation. This was a part of a larger sale of assets. The Middleburg Heights, Ohio-based Interlake Holding Company acquired the assets of Lake Michigan Car Ferry Company, based in Ludington, Michigan.