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Inland Steel had the Edward L. Ryerson built specifically to carry iron ore. At the time, the vast majority of iron ore on the lakes was carried by gearless bulk carriers as natural ore was difficult for self-unloaders to handle. This would change during the 1960s when taconite, which could be easily unloaded by self-unloaders due to its more uniform shape, became the dominant form of iron ore moved on the lakes. Due to its design goals to maximize the carriage of iron ore, the Ryerson has cargo holds of smaller cubic dimensions than other similarly sized vessels due to the specific gravity weight of iron ore. As it represents more weight per cubic foot than other cargoes such as grain, coal, and stone a vessel will be loaded to its maximum draft before reaching its cubic dimension capacity when carrying iron ore. The Ryerson also had aluminum hatch covers to reduce weight and therefore add a small percentage to its maximum payload capability.

It's what Inland ordered

Looking at the bulkers built at Manitowoc, I see that Ryerson was the only one without a forward-mount unloading boom. Is this because the namesake didn't like the looks? Seem to recall reading that somewhere.