by Guest » March 26, 2021, 12:32 pm
Bethlehem Steel operated two thousand footers, the Stewart J. Cort and Burns Harbor, until its assets were purchased by the International Steel Group in 2003. When ISG was acquired by the Netherlands-based Mittal in 2005 these ships were moved to other fleets (ASC and Interlake) and time chartered back to the steel company to comply with the Jones Act. In any case, I believe ISG would be the last steel company to operate a fleet dediated to serving its own needs. In any case, the Bethlehem fleet and the subsequent ISG fleet outlasted the Inland Steel fleet by just a few years.
The steel company-owned fleets played a significant role in the development of the Great Lakes Shipping Industry during the 20th century. The need to move a tremendous amount of raw materials for steel production resulted in several innovations that increased the efficiency of this and other trades on the lakes. As the robustness of the North American steel industry went into decline after the late 1950s, however, these fleets began disappearing. I would hazard to guess that one of the primary reasons the United States Steel Corporation spun off its lake fleet to form the USS Great Lakes Fleet Inc. in the early 1980s was because it did not have enough tonnage requirements to keep its fleet steadily working.
Making a slight divergence from the American-owned steel company fleets, how many Canadian steel companies operated vessels on the lakes? I can only think of the Yankcanuck that was owned for a period by the Algoma Steel Corporation.
Bethlehem Steel operated two thousand footers, the Stewart J. Cort and Burns Harbor, until its assets were purchased by the International Steel Group in 2003. When ISG was acquired by the Netherlands-based Mittal in 2005 these ships were moved to other fleets (ASC and Interlake) and time chartered back to the steel company to comply with the Jones Act. In any case, I believe ISG would be the last steel company to operate a fleet dediated to serving its own needs. In any case, the Bethlehem fleet and the subsequent ISG fleet outlasted the Inland Steel fleet by just a few years.
The steel company-owned fleets played a significant role in the development of the Great Lakes Shipping Industry during the 20th century. The need to move a tremendous amount of raw materials for steel production resulted in several innovations that increased the efficiency of this and other trades on the lakes. As the robustness of the North American steel industry went into decline after the late 1950s, however, these fleets began disappearing. I would hazard to guess that one of the primary reasons the United States Steel Corporation spun off its lake fleet to form the USS Great Lakes Fleet Inc. in the early 1980s was because it did not have enough tonnage requirements to keep its fleet steadily working.
Making a slight divergence from the American-owned steel company fleets, how many Canadian steel companies operated vessels on the lakes? I can only think of the Yankcanuck that was owned for a period by the Algoma Steel Corporation.