95.3 / 88.5 FM Grand Rapids and 95.3 FM Muskegon
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Holding company buys Lake Michigan car ferry SS Badger

S.S.Badger

A coal-fired ferry that carries people and cars across Lake Michigan between Michigan and Wisconsin has been sold. The Ludington Daily News reports that Interlake Holding Co. announced Wednesday that it bought the SS Badger. The Middleburg Heights, Ohio-based company also purchased a tug-barge called the SS Spartan and the Lake Michigan Carferry and Pere Marquette Shipping companies. The 410-foot SS Badger launched in 1952. It hauled railcars on the Great Lakes from 1953 to 1990. It was converted into a car and passenger ferry that can carry 600 people and 180 vehicles. It now operates between Ludington in western Michigan and Manitowoc in Wisconsin. It was designated a national historic landmark in 2016.