A 71-year-old self-unloading bulker has run aground off Michigan, sparking an effort to refloat it from the sand.
Interlake Steamship said in a Facebook post that its 28,400-dwt Kaye E Barker (built 1952) grounded in Lake Michigan off the US port of Muskegon.
“Interlake is working diligently with its internal response team to free the vessel,” the company said.
TradeWinds could not immediately reach a spokeswoman for the shipowner and the US Coast Guard for an update on the grounding.
The Coast Guard said on Twitter that it was responding to the incident and an assessment was ongoing. A private tug was assisting.
The incident took place at 10am local time (14:00 GMT) just off the harbour’s outer breakwall as the Kaye E Barker approached the port at a slow speed.
The US-flag vessel was partly in the Muskegon channel, although 400 feet (120 metres) of the waterway was still open, the Coast Guard said.
Interlake, a Cleveland-based owner and operator of ships on the Great Lakes, said the vessel was carrying more than 25,400 tons (23,000 tonnes) of stone from the Ontario port of Meldrum Bay.
A survey of the lake bottom confirmed that the ship has grounded in sand, the company said.
There have been no injuries or pollution, and there does not appear to be damage to the ship.
The US-built Kaye E Barker is one of 10 vessels in the Interlake fleet. While its age would be rare in ocean shipping, vessels that operate within the fresh waters of the Great Lakes have longer life spans, and most of the company’s ships were built in the 1940s and 1950s.
The ship is classed by American Bureau of Shipping and has protection and indemnity insurance from Steamship Mutual.
