Boatnerd Discussion Forum

When were these Ryerson videos made?

These are kind of cool. Have a look. Ryerson videos.

The Ryerson could have less labor, operating cost, and maintenance expenditure than most self-unloaders sailing today.

One would also have to consider the operating costs of Fast Eddy. She is a steamer and as such has a premium attached not only in fuel, but in labor. Warning: The fuel statement is an assumption - someone out there in Boarnerd land probably has the actual data on fuel consumption per ton per mile of various steamers versus diesel.

Rightly so , I totally agree . Nothing more sad than watching a classic steamer like the Ryerson sit idle , because an idle ship will fall apart far quicker than a busy one , just like a good car . But the Ryerson is just not feasible as it once was , her cargo hold side slopes and capacity just make her uneconomic to haul anything but ore . Even coal won`t work so good , not enough room for a well paying cargo . At one time , when shipyards were not so pricy , a conversion to a self unloader may have been the answer , but as discussed elsewhere here on the forum , building anything here to haul cargo on the lakes , is just , well , a bad economic decision . Just have to look at how quickly the John Sherwin job was cancelled . I doubt she will be done now , the steel is just too far gone .

It's a real shame to keep a modern day boat like the Ryerson tied to a dock ! She was built to sail. ed

Remember the Ryerson was sailing prior to the economic recession. Interlake also had plans to refit the Sherwin. So in very recent history the Great Lakes had a need for more ships. In fact I think there was talk of actually finally putting a foreward end boom on the Ryerson, had the economy been stable as it was in 06-07 that could have been a very real possibility.

In a world of business and economics times go up and times go down. Don't dispare as things keep improving eventually the Ryerson will be sailing again.

To be inovative I think I may try to operate it as some sort of museum or even a type of hotel, marketing to stay on a freighter for a night. Just have key areas off limits and allow the passengers to pay to sleep over night and have a galley breakfast in the morning.

It has nothing to do with contracts. The Ryerson is a "captive" boat that hauls raw materials from Mittal facilities to Mittal facilities. They (Mittal) can bring out the Ryerson whenever their need justifies it. The Sherwin, on the other hand, is a "for hire" boat and they (Interlake) would need contracts lined up in order to justify the expense to convert/fit out the Sherwin.

They will need a long term contact for her to make it worth while, just like the Sherwin. Enconomy has a long way to rebound before that will happen.

Anything is feasible, but it all comes down to money and if the company wants to invest like that in the boat.

that could be done, but again its putting up the time and resources to do it. right now its just too expensive to do major construction on a vessel. hauling ore is what she was built to do, if they really wanted to make her more flexible, adding a big unloading boom to her stern would probably be the best and cheapest option. but everything reall all falls into how much money do you want to invest

ed mertz wrote:Could the Ryerson be rebuilt to modern standards or would that be too expensive. Seems like she is in great shape.

Is it feasible to save the bow/stern and build a new hull?

oh she defiantly could be modernized, but it would be very expensive. and in todays day and age companies putting up the money to have a ship fitted with self unloading gear is rare. look at the sherwin, she has sat idle for years now and porbably will never get her long overdue upgrade

Could the Ryerson be rebuilt to modern standards or would that be too expensive. Seems like she is in great shape.

There is little demand for a straight decker other than that trade route and a couple of others. As spoken many times here, the cargo holds of the Ryerson are configured small for the purpose of hauling dense material such as iron ore and taconite pellets. Having small holds, it does not have the ability to be competitive and carry large cargoes of lighter material like coal or grain. Along with that, there are very few ports that still have dockside equipment for unloading straight deckers. It is simply the way things have progessed with the advancement and efficiency of the self-unloading freighter.

Is there no other work out there for a american stright decker like the Ryerson other than Hamilton?