MV Edwin H. Gott

MV Edwin H. Gott is a very large diesel-powered lake freighter owned and operated by Great Lakes Fleet, Inc, a subsidiary of Canadian National Railway. This vessel was built in 1979 at Bay Shipbuilding Company, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, and included self-unloading technology.

The ship is 1004 feet long and 105 feet at the beam. It has a carrying capacity of 2105527 ft3, has a 280 ft unloading boom and is capable of unloading 11,200 NT/hr. This is a maximum load of about 74,100 tons. The ship has five cargo holds, but 20 hatches which are 28 by. The hatches are significantly smaller than other large lake freighters.

History
The ship was originally built in 1979 for U.S. Steel and was named for their former chairman and chief executive officer, Edwin H. Gott.

The ship was originally built with two 16-cylinder Enterprise DMRV-16-4 diesel engines which powered twin propellers and was rated at 19,500 bhp. These were replaced with two 8-cylinder MaK/Caterpillar 8M43C diesel engines which each produce 9650 hp and are compliant with EPA emission requirements. The project was partly funded by a $750,000 EPA Clean Diesel grant. MV Edwin H. Gott conducted sea trials of the new engines in March 2011. The ship was repowered at Bay Shipbuilding Company, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, during the winter of 2010/2011.

When the ship was originally built, it was fitted with a shuttle boom that could extend 52 ft to either side of the stern of the vessel. This type of boom limited which ports the vessel could unload, as it required a dockside hopper. In the layup period between the 1995 and 1996 season, the vessel returned to Bay Shipbuilding Company, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, where it was fitted with a traditional unloading boom. The new boom, measuring 280 ft, is the longest self-unloading boom used on any Great Lakes vessel.