Interlake Steamship Company

Interlake Steamship Company was founded in 1913 when a consortium of firms bought out the seventeen vessels of the Gilchrist Company, which had gone into receivership.^[5] 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 in 1981, 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.^[21]

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-foot (127 m), 14,000 short tons (13,000 t) barge Montville to provide this new service on an as-needed basis.^[22]

In April 2019, Interlake Steamship announced construction of a 639-foot (195 m) long, 75-foot (23 m) 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 constructed on the Great Lakes since 1983.^[23] and the first constructed by Interlake since 1981.^[24] The ship was christened MV Mark W. Barker in Cleveland, Ohio^[23] on 1 September 2022.^[25]

In December 2020, SS Badger was acquired by the Interlake Steamship Company.^[26] 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 in long-term lay-up.^[26][27] 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.^[28]

The new stock issued in exchange for the old companies' stocks was computed based on the average of (1) appraised value of each old company (2) earning power in 1912 of each old company. From this was subtracted outstanding debt of each company (totaling $1,335,300) which was assumed by the new company and retired in 1913. In other words, the par value of common stock was valued equal to cash at the time of the merger. The 17 ships of the Gilchrist Transportation Company were bought for $2,362,669 in cash. An insurance fund was created and funded with an initial cash deposit of $250,000. Self-insurance becoming viable with a large enough number of ships was an explicit motive for the merger. The cash required was obtained by the sale of $3 million in bonds at 97 and the sale at par of $1,196,807 in stock. The Lackawanna Steamship Company as the surviving company was renamed to Interlake Steamship Company. Pickands, Mather & Co had the controlling interest.^[32][33]