The MV Prime and the tug Sarah Andrie traverse the Ludington channel Thursday morning.
By Rob Alway, Mason County Press
LUDINGTON — The Norwegian-flagged tanker Prime arrived in the Port of Ludington again Thursday. The ship has become a frequent visitor here and is expected to make several more visits this shipping season. Its presence marks the beginning of a new chapter in the maritime transportation network that has supported OxyChem’s calcium chloride operation for decades.
Prime’s appearance at the OxyChem terminal on Pere Marquette Lake follows the retirement of the tug Spartan and barge Spartan II, a longtime tug-barge combination that for years carried Ludington-produced calcium chloride throughout the Great Lakes. The transition has generated discussion among maritime observers about the future of American maritime jobs, changing transportation strategies and the role of foreign-flagged vessels in Great Lakes commerce.
The developments come during a period of broader change for OxyChem. In January 2026, Berkshire Hathaway completed its $9.7 billion acquisition of OxyChem, bringing the Ludington facility under the ownership of Warren Buffett’s conglomerate. While no local operational changes have been announced, the transaction represents one of the most significant ownership changes in the history of the plant.
Spartan/Spartan II entering Ludington channel in July 2025.
The Ludington facility traces its roots to World War II-era magnesium production and has operated under several owners through the years. OxyChem acquired the plant from Dow Chemical in 2009 and continues to produce calcium chloride using naturally occurring brine resources beneath Mason and Manistee counties. Today, the facility supplies customers throughout the United States and Canada and remains one of the region’s largest industrial employers.
At the same time, OxyChem is adapting to the retirement of the vessels that historically carried much of that product across the Great Lakes.
According to the company, Spartan II has been retired from service and is no longer operating. The company is evaluating options for the vessel’s final disposition. Spartan has also been retired and is proceeding through the decommissioning process.
The retirement follows significant structural deficiencies identified while Spartan II was undergoing inspection and repairs at Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, during the fall of 2025.
The Spartan II barge, left, in drydock last October at incantieri Bay Shipbuilding in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. The Pere Marquette 41 barge is at its right.
According to American Bureau of Shipping inspection records, surveyors documented widespread corrosion and structural deterioration throughout the vessel. Excessive wastage was identified on exposed portions of the main deck and trunk deck, along with corrosion on both the port and starboard sides of the hull.
More serious findings emerged during a special survey. Inspectors reported a fracture in the starboard side shell at frame 52 in the turn of the bilge, a critical structural area where the bottom plating transitions into the vessel’s side shell. Additional damage included multiple gouged hull plates between frames 2 and 5 on the port side, damage near frame 14 in an area that had previously undergone repairs, and a dent in the starboard turn of the bilge at frame 32.
The deficiencies remained listed as outstanding following the inspection, with recommended repairs due by Dec. 29, 2025. Publicly available records do not indicate whether those repairs were completed. Vessel tracking data has continued to show Spartan moored in the Sturgeon Bay area.
The retirement ends the careers of two vessels that were familiar participants in Great Lakes commerce for decades.
Spartan II was built in 1980 by Bay Shipbuilding in Sturgeon Bay. Originally named Hannah 6301, the double-hulled liquid barge measured 407 feet in length, 60 feet in beam and 21 feet in depth. Designed specifically for bulk liquid cargoes, the vessel carried up to 10,000 short tons and was equipped with three diesel-powered cargo pumps used to discharge calcium chloride and other liquid products.
The Prime arrives in Ludington June 11, 2026.
Its companion tug, Spartan, was built in 1969 by Burton Shipyard in Port Arthur, Texas. During its career, the vessel sailed under several names, including Lead Horse, Gulf Challenger, Challenger and Mark Hannah before receiving its current name in 2010. The tug measures 121 feet in length with a beam of 31 feet and depth of 10 feet and is powered by twin screws generating approximately 3,200 horsepower.
Both vessels were acquired by OxyChem in 2009 and renamed the following year. For more than a decade, the tug-and-barge combination routinely transported calcium chloride produced in Ludington to customers throughout the Great Lakes region while supporting American maritime jobs through Andrie Inc. of Muskegon, which operated the vessels.
Their retirement raises questions about the future of the American maritime jobs that historically supported the route, though OxyChem has not announced any workforce impacts related to the change.
Prime represents a significantly different transportation platform. The vessel was built in 2004 at the Estaleiros Navais de Viana do Castelo shipyard in Viana do Castelo, Portugal, for Finnish operator Neste Shipping Oy. It entered service as Kiisla and later sailed under the name CM Prime before assuming its current identity.
Tug/barge Candace Elise/Robert F. Deegan on Pere Marquette Lake, June 2, 2026.
The tanker measures approximately 459 feet in length with a beam of 69 feet. It has a gross tonnage of 9,910 and a deadweight capacity of approximately 16,260 tons. The vessel is powered by a main engine producing approximately 11,330 horsepower and is designed to transport refined petroleum products and liquid chemicals. Ownership is listed under MES Trade Invest AG, while vessel management is handled by OSM Ship Management AS. The vessel sails under the Norwegian International Ship Register.
Historically, Prime operated primarily in Northern European waters, serving ports in the Baltic and North Sea regions, including Rotterdam and Amsterdam. Its appearance on the Great Lakes represents a notable shift from its traditional trading pattern.
Since arriving in North America via the St. Lawrence Seaway this spring, Prime has called at several Canadian ports, including Port Colborne and Loyalist Cove, Ontario, while transporting calcium chloride from Ludington.
OxyChem has confirmed that the vessel is being used during the 2026 shipping season while the company evaluates long-term transportation options.
“The Prime is being utilized in 2026 to transport calcium chloride across the Great Lakes in support of OxyChem’s Canadian customers,” said Wilma Rivera, OxyChem manager of communications. “Long-term plans have not been finalized.”
The use of a foreign-flagged vessel has generated questions about potential impacts on American maritime employment and the applicability of the Jones Act, the federal law that generally requires cargo transported between two U.S. ports to move aboard vessels that are American-built, American-owned and American-crewed.
However, maritime industry observers note that Prime’s current operations do not appear to fall under a traditional Jones Act scenario.
The Prime arriving in Ludington on May 17, 2026.
Based on publicly available vessel tracking information and statements from OxyChem, the vessel is transporting calcium chloride from Ludington to customers in Canada. Because those voyages constitute international commerce rather than transportation between two U.S. ports, the Jones Act does not appear to apply to Prime’s current operations.
While Prime is foreign-flagged and foreign-crewed, OxyChem’s Ludington facility continues to utilize American maritime operators as part of its transportation network.
In addition to Prime, the plant is regularly served by the tug Candace Elise and barge Robert F. Deegan. Candace Elise is owned and operated by Ashton Marine Co. of North Muskegon, Michigan. Originally built as Patricia Hoey, the tug later underwent extensive rebuilding before entering service under Ashton Marine ownership. The vessel routinely operates throughout the Great Lakes towing liquid cargo barges.
Its companion, Robert F. Deegan, is a double-hulled tank barge owned by USS Great Lakes LLC and designed for the transportation of liquid chemical and petroleum products. Together, the vessels represent a modern U.S.-flagged tug-and-barge operation serving Ludington with American crews aboard American vessels.
Their continued service demonstrates that domestic maritime transportation remains an important component of OxyChem’s logistics operations even as the company utilizes Prime to serve Canadian customers during the 2026 season.
The distinction is important because much of the recent national debate surrounding Jones Act waivers has focused on domestic cargo movements that would otherwise be reserved for American vessels and crews.
Close up view of the Prime’s wheelhouse.
Jim Weakley, president of the Lake Carriers’ Association, has emerged as one of the most outspoken critics of expanded Jones Act waivers. He argues that increased reliance on foreign vessels in domestic trades threatens American jobs, shipyard investment and the long-term viability of the nation’s maritime industry.
“The waiver is putting Americans out of work and reducing investment in U.S. ships and U.S. shipyards,” Weakley said. Broker information reviewed by the association indicates that most cargo moved under recent waivers could have been transported by Jones Act-qualified vessels.
Weakley said his larger concern is the precedent that expanded waivers could establish.
“Waivers create uncertainty in the industry,” he said. “If waivers become more common or permanent foreign interests can subsidize cargo movements in the short term to undercut our business. The waivers risk the long-term viability and reliability of the domestic supply chain.”
For Great Lakes operators, the Jones Act remains particularly important because American carriers already compete with Canadian operators in international Great Lakes commerce. Weakley argues that weakening domestic protections would further challenge American fleets, mariners and shipyards.
The Prime and Sarah Andrie depart Ludington on May 5, 2026.
The discussion surrounding Prime has attracted particular attention in Ludington because of the community’s longstanding connection to Great Lakes shipping. The city is home port to the SS Badger, the nation’s last coal-fired passenger and vehicle ferry operating on the Great Lakes, as well as the articulated tug-barge Undaunted and Pere Marquette 41, which operate under Interlake Maritime Services of Middleburg Heights, Ohio. Together with commercial operations serving the OxyChem plant and other harbor facilities, those vessels help maintain Ludington’s reputation as one of Michigan’s most significant maritime communities.
Whether those concerns ultimately apply to Prime’s service remains uncertain. The vessel’s current voyages appear dedicated to serving Canadian customers, and OxyChem has not announced a long-term replacement strategy for the retired Spartan and Spartan II.
What is clear is that 2026 represents a turning point for both the Ludington plant and its transportation network. Within a span of months, ownership of the facility changed hands, the longtime Spartan and Spartan II were retired, and a foreign-flagged tanker assumed a prominent role in moving one of Ludington’s signature industrial products across the Great Lakes.
For ship enthusiasts, the story is about more than a single vessel replacement. It represents the intersection of corporate change, vessel retirements, evolving transportation economics and the continuing transformation of Great Lakes shipping. Whether Prime’s presence proves temporary or signals a longer-term shift in how Ludington-produced calcium chloride reaches customers throughout the region remains one of the most closely watched maritime developments on the lakes this year.
_____________________________________
Please Support Local News and Sports Coverage
Receive daily MCP and OCP news briefings along with email news alerts for $10 a month. Your contribution will help us to continue to provide you with free local news.
The payment can be paid monthly through PayPal: Click this link.
To sign up for an annual subscription, email editor@mediagroup31.com. In the subject line write: Subscription. Please supply your name, email address, mailing address, and phone number (indicate cell phone). We will not share your information with any outside sources.
For more than one email address in a household, the cost is $15 per month per email address.
We can send you an invoice for a yearly payment of $120, which you can conveniently pay online or by check. If you are interested in this method, please email editor@mediagroup31.com and we can sign you up. You can also mail a yearly check for $120 to Media Group 31, PO Box 21, Scottville, MI 49454 (please include your email address).
Payment must be made in advance prior to subscription activation.
We appreciate all our readers regardless of whether they choose to continue to access our service for free or with a monthly financial support.
_____
This story and original photography are copyrighted © 2026, all rights reserved by Media Group 31, LLC, PO Box 21, Scottville, MI 49454. No portion of this story or images may be reproduced in any way, including print or broadcast, without expressed written consent.
As the services of Media Group 31, LLC are news services, the information posted within the sites are archivable for public record and historical posterity. For this reason it is the policy and practice of this company to not delete postings. It is the editor’s discretion to update or edit a story when/if new information becomes available. This may be done by editing the posted story or posting a new “follow-up” story. Media Group 31, LLC or any of its agents have the right to make any changes to this policy. Refer to Use Policy for more information.
.png)
