Tugboat frees freighter after it runs aground in Detroit River near Belle Isle
A freighter longer than two football fields and loaded with about 20,000 metric tons of rock salt was freed Wednesday afternoon, several hours after running aground in the Detroit River near the east end of Belle Isle, not far from the Dossin Great Lakes Museum.
"Working with the U.S. Coast Guard and with the assistance of a tug, the vessel was able to back away from the bank and get underway," the ship's owner said at about 12:45 p.m., in a statement it emailed to the Free Press. "The crew will continue to assess the vessel and work to determine the cause of the incident."
Interlake Steamship Co., the family-owned and operated company based in Middleburg Heights, Ohio, said that the freighter was passing Belle Isle at about 7:30 a.m. from Cleveland, bound for Milwaukee, when there was a sudden loss of power and maneuverability.
What suddenly crippled the Mark W. Barker, the company said it did not know, but was eager to find out because the power outage — and subsequent grounding — of such a relatively new and large vessel was especially unusual and a cause for alarm.
The ship was christened just last year and is the first large bulk carrier built on the Great Lakes since 1981.
Fortunately, Coast Guard Lt. Cameo Ulbricht told the Free Press, the freighter was not blocking shipping channels, no injuries were reported and there were no signs of pollution. In the grand scheme of things, she said, it was "the best-case scenario" of what could have been a serious problem.
When the ship lost power, Interlake said, it unexpectedly turned to port.
The captain, acting quickly, dropped the anchor before it grounded on the channel's soft bank, a move the company said that likely prevent the ship from getting even more stuck, or worse, damage that could have caused its cargo or 105,000 gallons of diesel fuel to spill out.
A livestream initially appeared to show the merchant ship, the Mark W. Barker, motionless with the bow near a grassy area with a dock, and by 9 a.m., folks on and near Belle Isle spotted the 639-foot-long vessel, which was carrying a crew of 21, and began to speculate about what happened.
The U.S. Coast Guard said that just after 11 a.m., help was on the way.
A commercial tugboat, the Pennsylvania, was headed toward the freighter, and eventually freed it.
Big ship groundings often make big news.
In March, a cargo vessel ran aground in the Suez Canal in Egypt. That ship got stuck in a two-lane area, the Associated Press reported. Traffic through the global waterway was not impacted, but it took tugboats at least five hours to refloat the Istanbul, which was twice the length of the Mark W. Barker.
Interlake confirmed what the Coast Guard also had said: No one was injured in the grounding. There did not appear to be any damage to the vessel. And the incident did not release any pollution or cause contamination on the Detroit River.
The privately-held company describes itself as the "largest privately held U.S.-flag fleet on the Lakes" that "has been carrying the bulk cargoes that have been fueling the region's economy since its founding more than 100 years ago."
Interlake also boasts being the "most efficient and environmentally responsible in the shipping industry" with of a fleet of 10 vessels. Of all its ships, the Mark W. Barker is its shortest, a spokeswoman said. The biggest one in its fleet is more than 1,000 feet long.
Interlake said it names all of its vessels after executives and their wives.
This one, the company said, happened to be named after the company's president. Mark Barker is a second-generation company leader, who, according to his online biography, previously held various positions including fleet engineer to vice president and treasurer.
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The ship was constructed at Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, and designed to carry all types of cargo throughout the Great Lakes and rivers and "ensure that it will have a low environmental impact." It was christened in Cleveland following a bit media fanfare.
Interlake described its grounded ship as having a square-shaped, flat-bottomed cargo hold instead of a traditional V-shaped angled bottom. A combination of larger hatch openings and additional cargo hold space, the company said, was designed with cargo, like salt, in mind.
The freighter also is powered by engines that generate 8,000 horsepower, turning a four-blade, propeller, and, in a twist, Interlake had touted that the ship's "forward-looking design" offered "high-efficiency propulsion and maneuverability."
The MV Mark W. Barker
Contact Frank Witsil: 313-222-5022 or fwitsil@freepress.com.
Contributing: Junfu Han, Detroit Free Press
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Freighter freed after running aground in Detroit River near Belle Isle
