STURGEON BAY, WI (WTAQ) – Spring on the Great Lakes means freighters can get back to work, hauling everything from coal to iron ore.
More than a dozen ships spend the winter at Bay Shipbuilding in Sturgeon Bay.
Over the next few weeks, they’ll be heading out to ports in the U-S and Canada.
These are moving days on the waters of Door County. The first of the Great Lakes Freighters set sail Friday in Sturgeon Bay.
And the 767-foot long Cason J. Callaway was the first to go. Others will follow over the next few weeks.
Julie Koch (cook) is Contract Services Manager at busy Bay Shipbuilding.
She says moving day for these steel giants usually revolves around the opening of the Soo Locks. That means traffic can flow to a busy port like Duluth, Minnesota.
“They need to go up there and get their first cargo and start making money.”
For the months that they’re here, work on the ships can range from a simple paint job to an engine rebuild.
“We try to keep our crews together and stay on boats until the work is done. Then they can move on to something else.”
In the office…decisions are made on where to put the ships when coming in for work, some of them up to 1-thousand feet long.
Julie Koch says getting these steel giants in and out is a bit like moving the pieces on a big chess board.
“We start laying out boats and which boat will fit here and what makes sense for the work in front of them.”
Back to the schedule. And that’s where Stew Fett comes in…..he’s the Production Manager.
“You’re asking the production manager if everything will be done on time? The answer is yes.”
It’s his busy time….and a busy time for the 11-hundred employees hard at work. That’s double what you might find here for 9 months of the year.
“All shipbuilders have great pride in their work. They’re craftsmen….they take great pride in their craft.”
And for many of them at Bay Shipbuilding….they’re almost like part of the ship’s crew.
Julie Kock says it’s a small fleet of freighters that cruise the Great Lakes. And a lot of them are frequent visitors to Sturgeon Bay when winter closes in.
“Those vessels come here every year for layup. We’ve got guys that have worked on those boats for their entire career here.”
Now that the freighters are heading back out, Sturgeon Bay becomes popular for another reason.
People like Lois Depouw…who made the drive up from Green Bay to watch what they call the winter fleet set sail.
“I’ve seen the ships, footage, on Facebook. And it’s just awesome. I just wanted to witness it up close.”
They call these people….’boat nerds’. It’s a tag Lois Depouw has no issues with. In fact, she wears it proudly. You might even call her a boat stalker.
“I have my…it’s all planned out. How I’m going to travel and follow the ship when it leaves.”
The Michigan Street drawbridge is a popular spot to watch the boats head out to Lake, Michigan.
Time to relax at Bay Shipbuilding. But Julie Koch says no one gets too comfortable.
“We like all the excitement and then for about two weeks we enjoy the downsizing and relaxing a little bit. Then we start right back up again and plan for the next year.”
When the days get short….the ships will return.
