River-class freighter

In April 2019, it was announced that Interlake had ordered a single River-class ship from Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin.[1] The vessel was the first new ship ordered by Interlake since 1981, and the first Great Lakes bulker built on the Great Lakes since 1983.[1] Construction began in August 2019, when the first steel was cut.[2] The ship was built in modular sections, the first of which were joined together at a ceremonial keel laying in June 2020.[3] At the event, Interlake announced that she would be named Mark W. Barker, with delivery scheduled for mid-2022.[3]

The River class was designed by Interlake, Fincantieri Bay, and Bay Engineering, and measures 639 feet (195 m) long, with a beam of 78 feet (24 m) and a draft of 45 feet (14 m).[4] It has a deadweight tonnage of 28,000 DWT, with a unique cargo hold and hatch design that allows for the transport of both bulk raw materials and large individual cargo.[5] As a self-unloading ship, a bow-mounted conveyor system that is 76 metres (249 ft) long is installed for offloading of bulk materials.[5] Ship propulsion power is about 5,800 kilowatts (7,800 hp) from two diesel engines—EMD 710s on Mark W. Baker—and electrical power totals 3,440 kilowatts (4,610 hp) from a genset and a shaft-mounted generator on each main engine.[5] A single propeller gives the ship a service speed of about 15 miles per hour (24 km/h).[4]