Two vessels arrive at Ludington Sunday morning

June 1, 2025

Great Lakes Boat Blog

Great Lakes 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

Sunday, June 1, 2025

LUDINGTON — Ludington boat watchers got a treat Sunday morning when two vessels arrived in port within about 30 minutes of each other.

First, the tug/barge Spartan/Spartan II returned to its homeport of Ludington, to pick up a shipment from Occidental Chemical (OxyChem), which owns the combined vessel.

Next was the MV Manitowoc, making its second appearance in Ludington this shipping season. As she sailed past the SS Badger, just moments before the car ferry’s 9 a.m. departure, the Manitowoc gave a salute with its horn, which was met with a response from the Badger.

Spartan/Spartan II traverses the Ludington channel

The Manitowoc was heading to the Reith-Riley Construction Ludington dock on Pere Marquette Lake, located just past the Badger’s slip.

The 630-foot-long River Class vessel is owned by Rand Logistics of New Jersey and operated under its subsidiary Grand River Navigation Company of Traverse City. 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 Spartan/Spartan II tug/barge combination, owned by Occidental Chemical, is used to transport calcium chloride out of the Ludington OxyChem plant.

The Spartan tug was built by Burton Shipyard, Port Arthur, Texas in 1969. It was called originally called the Lead Horse until 1973 when its name was changed to Gulf Challenger. In 1980, it was rechristened as the Challenger. From 1993 to 2010 it was called the Mark Hannah.

The Spartan is 121-feet long with a breadth of 31-feet and a depth of 10-feet. It operates on twin screws with 3,200 horsepower.

The Spartan II barge was built by Bay Shipbuilding, Sturgeon Bay, Wis. in 1980. It was called the Hannah 6301 until 2010. It is 407-feet long with a breadth of 60-feet and a depth of 21-feet. It is a double-hulled liquid barge that has a full capacity of 10,000 short tons. It typically hauls calcium chloride out of the Ludington OxyChem plant. It is equipped with three diesel pumps for offloading liquid cargo.

Both the tug and barge were purchased by Occidental Chemical in 2009 and the names were changed in 2010. The tug/barge is operated by Andrie, Inc. of Muskegon for OxyChem.

To view more photos of the Saginaw, visit our newly-created companion site, www.greatlakesboatblog.com.

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