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Winter LayUp on the great lakes 25+ ships...U Tube shows the Calumet

If you want to see a real beauty search for video of the Calumet in layup....more rust than paint.

The St. Clair was repainted just before her unfortunate fire in Toledo in February 2019. The Burns Harbor I think was also repainted just a few years ago possibly as well? You are right though Bob, the rest of the ASC footers at least haven’t been painted completely in more years than I can remember now! Just to add to your comments though on Interlake and their repowering of their steamers to diesels. I often go crazy asking myself these two questions on the repowering. First, why don’t they repower the Sykes? Second, why is the Munson the only GLF ship to get diesel from steam and not the others like the Anderson and the Clarke? It just drives me crazy to try and come up with an answer for myself when companies like both Interlake and Lower Lakes have each repowered their steamers from steam to diesels. Just my thoughts, opinions and two cents only here on that.

Comes down to priorities I suppose, ASC has always spent on internals like cargo hold steelwork and machinery work while clearly ignoring the externals, while Interlake may do the opposite or a 50/50 approach. Interlake being owned by the Barker family means a lot insofar as private funding sources are concerned, they have quite the shipping empire built up and don't have to report to a board of directors on expenditures like ASC does with Oaktree and before that AIP and GATX. From personal experience down in the Gulf, the boats that were all shined up and filled with all sorts of perks were usually the worst to work for since the company cared about image more than anything else.

Hull life extension on the lakes with or without paint is something of a non-issue since its freshwater. I know on this site there have been more than a few threads and photos of ASC boats coming out of 5yrs with just the undersides painted, so maybe they are just prioritizing the parts that make money and reduce cost. They are workboats after all, and the footers are a soon to be dying breed.

Interlake is private and they take more pride in the appearance and upkeep of there vessels!

My guess is that Interlake is more committed and focused on running a steamship company whereas ASC seems more interested in just producing revenue. American Steamship is no longer the B&C line it once was. They have bounced around for awhile with reorganization of the fleet and it appears only the 1000 footers can maybe carry the iconic stack markings into the future. The smaller and older boats will likely be sold off eventually.

Interlake is a privately owned company, they can do as the owners please. ASC is a publicly traded company, they have to pay dividends to the share holders and answer to them. And your right about rust....it never sleeps!

How is it that interlake steamship company can take such great care of the ships like repowering them and also painting them during a 5 year inspection and asc just keeps the maintenance end of there ships up but never paint them during a 5 year inspection? Both companies haul basically the same cargo so asc must be making money. I know it’s been said before that paint doesn’t move cargo but it does extend the life of a ship.