Page 34: of Marine News Magazine (July 2018)

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GREAT LAKES BUSINESS

The Great Lakes GroupThe Great Lakes Group

Embracing and spanning the full breadth of Great Lakes geography and business mix, GLG’s Joe Starck has his multi- missioned ? rm looking to the future – in more ways than one.

By Joseph Keefe he Great Lakes Group (GLG) takes its beginnings “The tug that was built in 1897 has been repowered ? ve from its 1899 incorporation by industrial icon John times and sank twice. You just can’t keep doing that and

D. Rockefeller, who formed the Great Lakes Towing to keep up with the times,” explained Starck, continuing,

T satisfy the demands of a Midwest industrial revolution that “And Subchapter M has really pushed us over the edge, at brought bigger ships to the region. Existing vessels, unable this point, in maintenance and repair. That isn’t affordable to keep up with demand, were supplemented and replaced anymore and that’s why we’re building new tugs.” by a ? eet of as many as 100 tugboats; the ? rst steel tugs in the region. GLG still has a tug that was part of that original

THE GLG PORTFOLIO operation. Built in 1897; it remains in service today.

Great Lakes Towing was the original company, and from

Today, GLG is a full-service marine transportation orga-

Great Lakes Towing several other companies were born. nization made up of diversi? ed marine-related companies, Tugs International was formed in the mid-1990s to build all operating on the Great Lakes. Its ? eet of vessels has an new tugs – it was formed to build tractor tugs. Kept sep- eye-popping average age of about 100 years, all of them arate from Great Lakes Towing, it was primarily a non- built between 1900 and the early 1930’s. GLG President operating company, intended to own and charter vessels

Joseph P. Starck told MarineNews in late May, “They were to others. Today, theirs is only one of those boats left that re-powered in the late 1940’s and 1950’s with diesel. All GLG still owns and it is on charter to Moran.

were built with steam, converted to diesel, and some of

Soo Line Handling – still another GLG company – op- them have been re-powered multiple times.” That’s not to erates out of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. This ? rm handles say that GLG is sitting on its hands. They are not.

lines for foreign-? ag ships at the locks. GLG more or less

July 2018

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