Finally catching the Algoma Buffalo

The MCP Boat Blog is presented by the Port of Ludington Maritime Museum.

By Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief

Oct. 2, 2026

MUSKEGON — I have been trying to get a good set of photographs of the M/V Algoma Buffalo for nearly a year.

My first real attempt came Nov. 17, 2025, when the ship called at Manistee. The weather was less than cooperative that day and the Algoma Buffalo sat anchored a couple miles offshore. I flew my drone about a mile out over Lake Michigan and used its telephoto lens to get a few images, but they were not really up to the standard I want for my ship photography.

When she finally came into the harbor, the timing did not work with my schedule.

Since then, there have been a few other opportunities — and a few other misses.

This season especially, I have not had as much spare time to make a special trip from my home near Ludington down to Muskegon or Grand Haven just to photograph a ship. Muskegon is about an hour south of me, and Grand Haven is farther yet. As much as I enjoy chasing freighters, sometimes the logistics simply do not work.

Friday was different.

My daughter had a medical appointment in Grand Rapids and I knew the Algoma Buffalo would be in Muskegon. On our way back north, the timing finally lined up. The ship was alongside the Verplank dock on the eastern end of Muskegon Lake, unloading, and I had an opportunity to photograph her from both the ground and the air.

After nearly a year of trying, I finally caught the Algoma Buffalo.

A River Class laker

According to “Know Your Ships,” Algoma Buffalo is a 634-foot, 10-inch self-unloading bulk carrier built in 1978 by Bay Shipbuilding Corp. at Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. Originally named Buffalo, she spent most of her career with American Steamship Co. before joining the Algoma Central Corp. fleet and becoming the Algoma Buffalo in 2018.

At 68 feet wide, the vessel is part of Algoma’s River Class, a group of ships well suited for ports and waterways where maneuvering room is tighter than at the large open-water terminals frequented by 1,000-foot freighters. That versatility allows the Algoma Buffalo to serve destinations throughout the Great Lakes, including river ports and smaller industrial harbors.

The ship is equipped with a 250-foot self-unloading boom and can carry roughly 24,000 metric tons of cargo, depending on draft. Her unloading system is capable of moving cargo at rates approaching 5,900 metric tons per hour.

Nearly half a century after entering service, the Algoma Buffalo remains an active part of the Great Lakes bulk fleet, hauling the stone, salt and other materials that continue to move through the region’s industrial ports.

From power plant to deep-water port

The setting Friday was also interesting.

The Verplank facility occupies the former B.C. Cobb Generating Plant property at the eastern end of Muskegon Lake. For decades, the industrial site revolved around coal. Consumers Energy made a major investment in the dock in 2008, spending about $11 million to upgrade the facility so that 1,000-foot Great Lakes freighters could deliver coal to the power plant.

The Cobb plant eventually closed, and Forsite Development acquired the property from Consumers Energy in 2017. Verplank Dock Co. of Ferrysburg, Mich. purchased the 115-acre site in June 2020 and redeveloped it as a modern bulk-material terminal. The new port facility officially opened in August 2022. Verplank described it at the time as the largest deep-water port facility on Michigan’s western shore and the only one there capable of handling a 1,000-foot freighter.

Today Verplank’s business centers on bulk materials. The company handles products including limestone, slag and trap rock as part of an operation that moves millions of tons of essential materials throughout west Michigan and the Midwest.

My Muskegon launch site

When I photograph vessels at the Verplank terminal, my preferred staging point is Richards Charter Park, just a short distance away.

Richards is not an elaborate waterfront park. In fact, that is part of what makes it useful. The City of Muskegon describes the 7.5-acre property, also known as Boom Park, as a small rustic park providing access to the Muskegon River and Muskegon Lake.

The Muskegon Lakeshore Trail passes through the area. The trail system follows the Muskegon waterfront and connects north toward North Muskegon, with Richards Park identified as one of the access points along the route.

For me, however, its value is photographic.

There is room to safely launch and recover the drone while maintaining visual line of sight as I fly toward the Verplank dock. The bicycle and pedestrian trail leads toward a nearby bridge that also provides an excellent elevated view of vessels working at the eastern end of Muskegon Lake.

For aerial ship photography, that combination is difficult to beat: a legal public location, open sight lines and relatively easy access to a part of the harbor that otherwise has a heavily industrial character.

Friday I launched from Richards and sent the drone toward the Algoma Buffalo, finally getting the overhead and broadside views that had eluded me since last November.

Captain TJ

There is another reason the Algoma Buffalo has become an interesting ship to follow.

Her captain, Capt. TJ Pryor, has developed a substantial following among Great Lakes shipping enthusiasts through his Captain TJ YouTube channel. His videos offer something shipwatchers normally do not get to see: Great Lakes shipping from the pilothouse.

Rather than simply filming ships from shore, Pryor documents voyages from aboard a working laker. His channel includes narrated time-lapse passages, docking and undocking sequences, pilothouse views, ship-handling videos and behind-the-scenes looks at life aboard the lakes. Recent videos have followed the Algoma Buffalo through places ranging from the Welland Canal and Detroit and St. Clair rivers to the Cuyahoga River, Green Bay and Lake Michigan – and even Manistee.

For anyone interested in the actual operation of Great Lakes vessels, that perspective is valuable. Boat nerds spend a lot of time watching from piers, beaches, bridges and drones. Pryor’s videos show what is happening on the other side of the pilothouse windows — courses being steered, approaches being made and a 634-foot ship being maneuvered through waterways where a few feet can matter.

It also gives the Algoma Buffalo a personality that goes beyond her specifications.

The Great Lakes shipping community has always developed attachments to particular vessels and crews. Social media has simply provided a new way for sailors and those watching from shore to connect. Pryor’s channel is one of the better examples of that bridge between the two worlds.

Friday, though, my focus was still on the ship itself.

After several missed opportunities, a long drone flight off Manistee last fall and plenty of AIS watching since then, the circumstances finally came together.

The Algoma Buffalo was in Muskegon.

I had my cameras.

And, finally, I had the photographs I had been waiting nearly a year to make.

If you are interested in reading more maritime stories, past and present, please check out my new Great Lakes Boat Blog Substack. 

About the images:

The aerial images were captured with a DJI Mavic 3 Pro drone, with most photographed using its 24 mm Hasselblad camera. Ground-level images were captured with an iPhone 16 Pro, providing a compact complement to the aerial photography. I normally would create the ground-level images with either my DSLR or mirrorless camera but the shots included were unplanned.

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