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MCP Boat Blog is a presentation of Filer Credit Union, with offices in Manistee, Ludington and Bear Lake, www.filercu.com and the Mason County Historical Society’s Port of Ludington Maritime Museum, ludingtonmaritimemuseum.org, located at 217 S. Lakeshore Dr., Ludington.
By Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief
Wednesday, May 28, 2025
LUDINGTON — I put the drone to the test tonight as I photographed the MV Saginaw in the Port of Ludington. The Saginaw is the first foreign-flagged vessel to visit Ludington this shipping season. The weather forecast had been calling for rain by early evening, starting around 5:30 p.m. The Marine Traffic app showed the Saginaw’s estimated time of arrival as 7 p.m. — however, as I’ve learned, that means the time that the ship arrives at its slip, not when it arrives at the pier heads.
Just as forecasted, the rain started around 5:30 p.m. — and it began pouring. The Saginaw made the pier heads a little before 6:10 p.m. as the rain eased off. I launched my DJI Air 3 from Loomis Street Boat Ramps and captured several images of it coming into the channel. She moved very slow, which gave me ample opportunities to find several different angles.
The Saginaw passes the Port of Ludington Maritime Museum.
After she passed the Port of Ludington Maritime Museum I got in the truck and drove down to the Lake House at the corner of Rath Avenue and Dowland Street. The rain started back up — and the temperature dropped. But, the rain didn’t seem to bother the drone. As she curved past the long-docked SS Spartan, a bonus appeared in the channel — the SS Badger made her appearance. I captured some images of the Badger making its turn-around with the Saginaw and Spartan in the background.
I then waited about 20 minutes and returned to the corner of Lake and Delia streets, near the Ludington Boat Club, so I could get some photos of the Saginaw unloading at the Reith-Riley Construction Ludington Dock along Pere Marquette Lake. With the rain coming down, I wanted the drone to be nearby — plus this is a nice spot where you can actually see the ship.
The MV Saginaw was built as the John J. Boland (3) in 1953 by Manitowoc Shipbuilding Co. in Manitowoc, Wis., the same year as the SS Badger, which was built at Christy Corp. in Sturgeon Bay, Wis. The Saginaw was one of only three self-unloading ships constructed on the Great Lakes in the 1950s. Its original namesake, John James Boland, was a co-founder of Boland & Cornelius, the precursor to American Steamship Co., its original owner.
In 1999, the ship was sold to Lower Lakes Towing LTD of Port Dover, Ont., Canada. It is 639 feet, 3 inches long with a breadth of 72 feet and a depth of 36 feet.
When built, it was powered by a De Leval cross compound steam turbine driving one shaft rated at 7,000 shaft horsepower, with two Foster-Wheeler water tube boilers that burned fuel oil. In 1986, a 1,000 hp bow thruster was installed. In 2007, its turbine was replaced by a MaK 6M43C six cylinder diesel engine which generates 8,160 brake horsepower.
The ship has a cargo capacity of 20,200 gross tons.
To view more photos of the Saginaw, visit our newly-created companion site, www.greatlakesboatblog.com.
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