Milwaukee welcomes first international ship of 2025 season
BY Rachel Ryan Milwaukee
MILWAUKEE — The first international ship of the 2025 season arrived in Milwaukee over the weekend.
The Singapore-flagged Patagonman docked in Port Milwaukee on Sunday, March 30, the first international ship of the 2025 shipping season
It corresponded with the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway, which connects the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean
There were 42 international ships that came through Milwaukee in 2024
The port connects local farmers and businesses to international markets
The Singapore-flagged Patagonman docked in Port Milwaukee on Sunday, March 30 after sailing through the Atlantic Ocean and unloading cargo in Ontario.
It corresponded with the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway, which connects the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean.
Ships from around the world enter Milwaukee for about nine months of the year, serving as a link to world markets for local farmers and businesses. Last year, cargo coming through Port Milwaukee was from or set to go to Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
There were 42 international ships that came through Milwaukee in 2024. Together, they carried over 324,000 metric tons of cargo, which was 70% more than 2023.
“The Patagonman’s arrival signals the start of Port Milwaukee’s international season, and we are hopeful we’ll go above and beyond 2024 tonnage levels,” Port Director Jackie Q. Carter said in a release.
Staff celebrated the arrival of the first international ship with a plaque that was presented to Captain Eduard Kovalevskiy on Tuesday, April 1. After it finished loading, it shipped out to the United Kingdom.
“World markets strengthen our economy, and it is great to welcome the first international arrival of the 2025 shipping season,” Mayor Cavalier Johnson said in the release.
2 Michigan lighthouses to get more than $100K in grants for preservation efforts
By: Max White
(WXYZ) — Two Northern Michigan lighthouses will receive more than $100,000 in grants to support ongoing preservation efforts.
According to the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, the Charlevoix South Pier Lighthouse on Lake Michigan and the Gull Rock Lighthouse on Lake Superior will receive the grants.
They come from the Michigan Lighthouse Assistance Program from the Michigan State Historic Preservation Office and the MEDC.
“This year, SHPO is celebrating the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Michigan Lighthouse Assistance Program and is proud of the important work that has been accomplished across the state to restore and repair these irreplaceable icons,” State Historic Preservation Officer Ryan Schumaker said in a statement. “SHPO is pleased to build on past preservation efforts by supporting these two lighthouses and their stewards in their continued efforts to invest in Michigan’s maritime heritage.”
The Charlevoix Historical Society was granted $60,000 with a matching $80,500 to support ongoing preservation efforts at the Charlevoix South Pier Lighthouse. The society will hire a contractor to clean and paint portions of the exterior and interior of the lighthouse.
“On behalf of the Charlevoix Historical Society, we are extremely grateful to the State Historic Preservation Office for the grant awarded through the MLAP program, and to all of those who participate in the ‘Save Our Lights’ license plate program,” President Emerita and Lighthouse Chair Denise Fate said in a statement. “This important project will ensure the long-term stability and preservation of Charlevoix’s beloved South Pier Lighthouse, which plays a significant role in the City’s identity.”
The remote Gull Rock Lighthouse off the eastern tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula in the Upper Peninsula will get more than $46,000 and another $23,233.33 in matching grants for its preservation.
The Gull Rock Lightkeepers will hire a contractor to clean and re-stain the cedar roof of the 1867 lighthouse, which is undergoing navigation.
Gull Rock is one of the most remote lighthouses in the Great Lakes and was among the earliest to be automated in 1913.
“The SHPO has been a critical partner in the ongoing restoration of the Gull Rock Lighthouse, both through its financial support via the Michigan Lighthouse Assistance Program as well as through the ongoing advice and technical expertise provided by its staff,” Gull Rock Lightkeepers Secretary David Younkman said in a statement. “We greatly value our partnership and the historic results that we have and will continue to achieve together. Protecting and restoring these lighthouses is a wonderful reminder of the long and important history America has had with our Great Lakes.”
Funding from the program comes directly from the sale of specialty Save Our Lights license plates which are available from the Michigan Secretary of State.
“Because of the generosity of people who pay a little extra for a lighthouse license plate, we are able to award grants each year that help preserve these symbolic Michigan structures for the long term,” Schumaker said.
2025 “Know Your Ships” available now
The new shipping season is at hand, and so is the release of the 2025 edition of Know Your Ships, the popular annual field guide to boats and boatwatching on the Great Lakes & St. Lawrence Seaway, now in its 66th year.
New this year is the ability to preorder the midsummer EXTRA magazine, which will feature a 50th anniversary tribute to the Edmund Fitzgerald and her crew, when you preorder the book.
Order at this link: www.knowyourships.com
Exhibit “Steam and Steel: Propelling the Future of the
Great Lakes” Opens May 23 at Great Lakes Science Center
Cleveland, OH – Explore the history of Great Lakes shipping as Great Lakes Science Center celebrates the centennial of the Steamship William G. Mather with a special exhibit, Steam and Steel: Propelling the Future of the Great Lakes, from May 23 through September 1. Once the flagship of the Cleveland Cliffs, Inc., the Mather is now a museum allowing guests to explore the ship and see its huge cargo holds, brass and oak pilot house, elegant guest quarters, and four-story engine room.
Entering the Steam and Steel exhibit inside the museum, guests will first encounter a 14-by-10-foot replica of the front hull of the ship, providing the perfect place to snap a selfie before embarking on your journey into the history of the Mather and the world of Great Lakes shipping. Displays of artifacts from the Mather, and historic photos chronicling Cleveland’s shipping history, will showcase how Lake Erie and access to the other Great Lakes, the St. Lawrence Seaway, and the Atlantic Ocean helped shape the growth of Cleveland as a hub for commerce, industry and innovation.
Interactive exhibits will allow guests to experience what it was like to steer the mighty Mather, load and unload cargo, and raise and lower the drawbridges on a model canal lock. Other exhibits will allow guests to see how technological innovations in shipping, including the addition of radar, dual propeller bow thrusters, and the automated boiler system, contributed to the Mather’s long and successful run as a Great Lakes freighter and helped it become “the ship that built Cleveland.”
Great Lakes Science Center
