MCP Boat Blog is a presentation of the Mason County Historical Society’s Port of Ludington Maritime Museum, ludingtonmaritimemuseum.org, located at 217 S. Lakeshore Dr., Ludington.
Documenting west Michigan’s commercial and recreational maritime industry.
By Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief
Sunday, May 11, 2025
MANISTEE — The MV Manitowoc made its second visit to Manistee early Sunday morning, arriving at the pier heads about 7:30 a.m. Twenty minutes later, she was passing through the Maple Street Bridge on the Manistee River.
I photographed the Manitowoc when it paid its first visit on April 9. At that time, I concentrated mostly on it passing through the Maple Street Bridge. Today, I wanted to focus on three areas: The pier heads and the two bridges. I like seeing ships passing by lighthouses. The early morning light against the Manistee North Pier Head Lighthouse was gorgeous, but I barely made it.
The 630-foot-long River Class vessel is owned by Rand Logistics and operated under its subsidiary Grand River Navigation Company. The self-unloading vessel was built in 1973 and was purchased by Rand in 2008.
The Manitowoc is designed to carry a variety of cargo types including grain, iron ore, coal, aggregates, salt and other bulk commodities. The vessel has a 260-foot unloading boom and has an unloading rate of 5,000 tons per hour and operates with diesel engines with a total of 5,600 horsepower. The Manitowoc’s sister ship in the Company’s U.S flagged fleet, the MV Calumet, visited Ludington earlier this week.
More photos can be seen on the MCP Instagram page and even more exclusively to subscribers (see information below).
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