The ATB Undaunted/Pere Marquette 41 departs Ludington harbor Thursday night.
By Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief
LUDINGTON — The articulated tug-barge (ATB) Undaunted/Pere Marquette 41 set sail for the first time this season Thursday evening out of its home port of Ludington, beginning the 85th season on the Great Lakes for the barge that was once the SS City of Midland 41 carferry.
The vessel is owned and operated by Interlake Logistics Solutions, a subsidiary of Interlake Maritime Services. Interlake Maritime Services, based in Middleburg Heights, Ohio, purchased the former Pere Marquette Shipping Co. operations in 2020, bringing the tug-and-barge unit under its umbrella and expanding its presence in the Great Lakes bulk cargo market.
Interlake Maritime Services is also the parent company of Lake Michigan Carferry Service, which operates the SS Badger out of Ludington. The shared ownership ties together two generations of cross-lake transportation — the historic passenger and vehicle ferry Badger and the modern freight-focused Undaunted/Pere Marquette 41 ATB unit.
The Undaunted/Pere Marquette 41 passes its sister ships, the Badger and Spartan.
The Pere Marquette 41 began its career, with its maiden voyage on March 12, 1941 as the City of Midland 41, built at Manitowoc Shipbuilding Co. for the Pere Marquette Railway. Designed to transport railcars across Lake Michigan between Ludington and Manitowoc, Wisconsin, the vessel measured 360 feet in length and could carry approximately 34 railcars.
Following its maiden voyage in March 1941, the Midland 41 quickly became a key part of the cross-lake rail ferry fleet. It later operated under the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway and the Chessie System, serving for nearly five decades and operating year-round, often breaking ice during winter months to maintain freight service. It also operated under Michigan-Wisconsin Transportation.
The vessel made its final run as a carferry in 1988. After several years laid up, the ship was converted in 1997 into an articulated barge. Its stern was notched to accept a tug, allowing it to operate as part of a more efficient tug-and-barge system.
The barge is pushed by the 143-foot long Undaunted, which is also a historic vessel. Read more about the operation here.
The City of Midland 41. Photo from the Mason County Historical Society Rose Hawley Archives.
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