By Rob Alway
LUDINGTON — The articulated tug/barge Undaunted/Pere Marquette 41 returned to its home port of Ludington Friday, Oct. 9, arriving about 10 a.m. at the Rieth-Riley Great Lakes Materials terminal along Pere Marquette Lake.
The vessel has been a less frequent visitor to Ludington this shipping season, spending much of its time hauling cargo to other Great Lakes ports, including destinations on Lake Erie and the Detroit River.
Recent Automatic Identification System (AIS) records show the tug/barge visiting Port Colborne, Ontario, Detroit, Monroe, Calcite near Rogers City, and several southern Lake Michigan ports, including Burns Harbor and Indiana Harbor.
Operated by Interlake Logistics Solutions, the tug/barge carries bulk cargo, including limestone and construction aggregate.
The Pere Marquette 41 is the former SS City of Midland 41, a railroad carferry built in 1941 by Manitowoc Shipbuilding Co. in Manitowoc, Wis. It operated out of Ludington until 1988 and was converted into a self-unloading barge in 1997.
The barge measures 403 feet long and 58 feet wide. The 143-foot tug Undaunted, originally built for the U.S. Navy during World War II, is powered by two Cummins diesel engines producing a combined 2,000 horsepower. When connected, the tug and barge have an overall length of approximately 494 feet.
The Undaunted/Pere Marquette 41 and the SS Badger are both under the ownership of Interlake Maritime Services of Middleburg Heights, Ohio, which acquired the Ludington-based shipping operations in 2020.
Help support this Substack page and check out our merchandise store.
This story is copyrighted 2026 by Sable Points Media.