by Guest » January 16, 2026, 9:40 am
Some nice photos of the American Spirit on today's (1-16-26) News Page closing the Soo Locks on 1-15-2026. I have to say that the American Spirit is looking pretty rough, especially the condition of the backside of the deckhouse that almost looks like it had a fire. I know paint does not make money by helping the ship carry more cargo, however, that is a myopic way of looking at the general maintenance of steel structure exposed to the elements. By not protecting the structure from further corrosion you are actually, in my opinion anyways, saving a little bit of money now only to have the added cost of steel replacement in the future. I wonder what other maintenance is being let go that is not visible from the outside. Perhaps this ship is nearing the end of its career and little effort is being put into it the prolong its operational life.
I experienced a similar situation when I was involved in manufacturing when the former chief financial officer took over the operation. One of the first things he did was eliminate all of the maintenance positions on the shop floor, including our preventive maintenance personnel, as unnecessary costs. Within a few months we were experiencing several machine breakdowns and lost time. This rate of downtime continued growing for a few years to the point that some of the machines became basically inoperable due to not getting the necessary servicing at the required intervals. This cost a lot of lost time and productivity, but in the end mattered little as the company was bought out by another firm a short time later that only wanted the product line and not the building, machinery, or employees. In thinking back about this some 15 years later, I often wonder if this was not the plan all along.
Some nice photos of the American Spirit on today's (1-16-26) News Page closing the Soo Locks on 1-15-2026. I have to say that the American Spirit is looking pretty rough, especially the condition of the backside of the deckhouse that almost looks like it had a fire. I know paint does not make money by helping the ship carry more cargo, however, that is a myopic way of looking at the general maintenance of steel structure exposed to the elements. By not protecting the structure from further corrosion you are actually, in my opinion anyways, saving a little bit of money now only to have the added cost of steel replacement in the future. I wonder what other maintenance is being let go that is not visible from the outside. Perhaps this ship is nearing the end of its career and little effort is being put into it the prolong its operational life.
I experienced a similar situation when I was involved in manufacturing when the former chief financial officer took over the operation. One of the first things he did was eliminate all of the maintenance positions on the shop floor, including our preventive maintenance personnel, as unnecessary costs. Within a few months we were experiencing several machine breakdowns and lost time. This rate of downtime continued growing for a few years to the point that some of the machines became basically inoperable due to not getting the necessary servicing at the required intervals. This cost a lot of lost time and productivity, but in the end mattered little as the company was bought out by another firm a short time later that only wanted the product line and not the building, machinery, or employees. In thinking back about this some 15 years later, I often wonder if this was not the plan all along.