SS Alpena (1942)

Shortening and conversion

In October 1989, the Leon Fraser was purchased by Fraser Shipyards in Superior, Wisconsin, which planned to shorten the ship and convert it into a cement carrier.^[14] The following year, she was purchased by New Management Enterprises and renamed the Alpena.^[2][14][15] According to Alpena third mate Erik Sawyer, shortening the ship would make her stronger by reducing the amount her hull could bend. It also would allow the ship to service ports that were formerly too small for her original size.^[16]

The shipyards shortened the Leon Fraser by removing her 120-foot (37 m) midsection in a dry dock,^[14][17][16] then flooded the dry dock to float the two ends of the ship, and ultimately welded the ends of the ship back together.^[14] In addition to being shortened, the ship was also converted into a self-unloading cement carrier. After being shortened, she measures 519 feet (158 m) in length,^[1] and weighs 5,633 long tons (5,723 t).^[16] The shortening also reduced the ship's capacity to 14,000 long tons (14,000 t),^[14][15] but the Alpena was nonetheless the largest cement carrier on the Great Lakes in 1991.^[15]

In service

As of 1991, New Management Enterprises used her to transport cement between Alpena, Michigan, and other Great Lakes cement ports, including Chicago; Duluth, Minnesota; Green Bay, Wisconsin; Milwaukee; Superior, Wisconsin; and Waukegan, Illinois.^[14][15] That year she was operated by a crew of 28.^[15]

In 1999, the Alpena was the largest of Inland Lakes Management's fleet, which also included the Paul H. Townsend, the JAW Iglehart, and the tugboat-barge Integrity. At that time, the Alpena was making about 70 trips per year, typically on Lake Michigan and Lake Superior, during her season from mid-March to late January. She spent the winter at her port of registry, Cleveland. Fully loaded, the ship can travel at 14.5 miles per hour (23.3 km/h), and unloaded she can travel at 16 miles per hour (26 km/h).^[16]

By 2015, she was the oldest active steamship on the Great Lakes.^[1] In 2014, the last active Canadian steamship on the Great Lakes, the Algoma Montrealais, was scrapped, while in the winter of 2015–16 two American steamships (the Herbert C. Jackson and the John G. Munson) were converted to diesel power.^[1]

In December 2015, she was damaged by a fire while in the Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding (FBS) dry dock in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, for a standard five-year inspection. The fire was estimated to have caused $3 million of damage to the ship.^[1] The Alpena was repaired after the fire and returned to service in 2016.^[10]

As of 2024, the ship is owned by Andrie Transportation Group (of Muskegon, Michigan) and Inland Lakes Management.^[18]

At the end of the 2021 season, the Alpena returned to the dry dock at FBS in Sturgeon Bay for her mandatory five-year inspection. She shared the dry dock with the SS Badger, which was simultaneously undergoing her five-year inspection.^[19][20] While in the dry dock, the Alpena also received a new coat of paint. She left Sturgeon Bay on January 28, 2022.^{[citation needed]}