by William Lafferty » January 27, 2024, 4:36 pm
Originally USCAN was to use McCarthy's four auto carriers in the service. Grand Haven arrived at Cleveland the evening of 28 December 1964. The Cleveland Stevedoring Company erected fencing, a gate, and roadway improvements to Dock 28, completed 24 December 1964. Its initial trip to Port Burwell was 22 January 1964, leaving there that day with 125 tons of steel coil from Stelco at Hamilton for the Ford plant at Walton Hills. The vessel did not make another trip until 3 March 1965, having suffered engine problems. It returned to Cleveland suffering boiler problems. It had been in ordinary for four years at West Palm Beach and Jacksonville before coming back to the lakes. It finally left Cleveland 8 March 1965, sailing into heavy ice. The three Canadian trucking firms that were to co-operate in the USCAN venture received licenses from the Ontario provincial government the next week, and it appeared to be clear sailing, but heavy ice continued to cause problems on southern Lake Erie. Almost immediately more opposition to the service arose in Canada, and the Ontario Board of Transport scheduled hearings for late February to sort things. However, these were not sorted out, with the Niagara Frontier Traffic Bureau that regulated commercial traffic across the border not granting the type of tariff USCAN sought to make the service profitable. Grand Haven appears to have run only intermittently in the spring of 1965, laid up at Dock 22 at Cleveland by June, later moved to the Old River Bed where the vessel sank on 20 September 1969. Meanwhile in spring 1965 McCarthy's fleet, its remaining three auto carriers, were sold to the breakers.
Originally USCAN was to use McCarthy's four auto carriers in the service. [I]Grand Haven[/I] arrived at Cleveland the evening of 28 December 1964. The Cleveland Stevedoring Company erected fencing, a gate, and roadway improvements to Dock 28, completed 24 December 1964. Its initial trip to Port Burwell was 22 January 1964, leaving there that day with 125 tons of steel coil from Stelco at Hamilton for the Ford plant at Walton Hills. The vessel did not make another trip until 3 March 1965, having suffered engine problems. It returned to Cleveland suffering boiler problems. It had been in ordinary for four years at West Palm Beach and Jacksonville before coming back to the lakes. It finally left Cleveland 8 March 1965, sailing into heavy ice. The three Canadian trucking firms that were to co-operate in the USCAN venture received licenses from the Ontario provincial government the next week, and it appeared to be clear sailing, but heavy ice continued to cause problems on southern Lake Erie. Almost immediately more opposition to the service arose in Canada, and the Ontario Board of Transport scheduled hearings for late February to sort things. However, these were not sorted out, with the Niagara Frontier Traffic Bureau that regulated commercial traffic across the border not granting the type of tariff USCAN sought to make the service profitable. [I]Grand Haven[/i] appears to have run only intermittently in the spring of 1965, laid up at Dock 22 at Cleveland by June, later moved to the Old River Bed where the vessel sank on 20 September 1969. Meanwhile in spring 1965 McCarthy's fleet, its remaining three auto carriers, were sold to the breakers.