Tom Wenstadt, our Door County correspondent, reports that the integrated tug barge CLYDE S. VAN ENKEVORT/ERIE TRADER arrived at the Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding yard the morning of July 2, 2025. The ERIE TRADER was docked at the main storage pier while the CLYDE S. was towed into the graving dock in front of the SOV DISCOVERY. The CLYDE S. VAN ENKEVORT is in for underwater gear repairs.

The articulated pusher tug KEN R. BOOTHE Sr. was built by Donjon Shipbuilding and Repair in Erie, PA in 2011 for SEACOR.                 

The self-unloading barge LAKES CONTENDOR was built by Donjon Shipbuilding and Repair in Erie, PA in 2012 for SEACOR.   

The integrated tug barge (ITB) KEN R. BOOTHE Sr./LAKES CONTENDOR was acquired by VAN ENKEVORT Tug & Barge in 2017 and renamed CLYDE S. VAN ENKEVORT/ERIE TRADER.

Specifications:

            Length           840 feet

            Beam (width) 78 feet

            Depth             45 feet

            Capacity        38,500 tons

            Power             2  5400 horsepower MAK diesel engines

Look for an aft pilot house, aft self-unloading boom with taconite hulls and white and beige upper paint.

The repair fleet can be viewed at Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, with viewing spots on both sides of the bay plus from the new Lighthouse Tower at the Door County Maritime Museum.

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Tom Wenstadt, who lives in Sturgeon Bay, is a retired marine engineer, having worked in the Great Lakes area for thirty-seven years. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from Michigan Technological University and is the author of Freighters of Manitowoc. He is a member of the Wisconsin Marine Historical Society and the Door County Maritime Museum & Lighthouse Preservation Society. He is a volunteer archival assistant and docent for the JOHN PURVES.

Photo by Bob Kuhn dated February 27, 2022