By James Heinz
I have been observing ships from the Great Lakes and other places for over 50 years. Recently at Milwaukee’s Jones Island I saw a ship from a place that I had never seen before on the Great Lakes.
On July 14, 2026, I was passing Jones Island when I saw this unusual ship at a dock in the inner harbor at the dock belonging to the Delong grain loading facility https://wmhs.org/moving-more-of-what-made-milwaukee-famous/
The ship was the Y M AMAZON. She was built in 2013, is 430 feet long, 62 feet wide, and displaces 7,370 tons. The cranes along her deck show that she is a general cargo or break bulk ship. This means she is designed to carry and load and unload just about any cargo that is not bulk liquid or carried in shipping containers.
She is a development of what used to be called a “stick ship” due to the presence of masts and booms designed to load and unload cargo, like the famous Dutch motor freighter PRINS WILLEM V, over whose wreck east of Milwaukee Y M AMAZON must have sailed above.
Bystanders told me that she was loading grain at the Delong facility. This might seem unusual for a break bulk ship, since on the Lakes grain would be carried by a bulk carrier.
Unloading paper rolls courtesy of Wikipedia
However, YM AMAZON apparently brought another cargo to Milwaukee, probably steel coils of the type that are often unloaded at Jones Island. Rather than return her empty, she loaded grain at the Delong facility. Vehicles parked at the facility were seen to be covered with a fine, corn colored dust.
The Delong facility has been so busy that since the above story was posted in 2025, Delong has built two large concrete silos to store grain.
But Y M AMAZON’s most unusual feature is that she is registered in Valetta, the capitol of the Mediterranean island nation on Malta, 5,124 miles from Milwaukee. As of the date and time of this story (July 19, 2026 at 8:39 p.m.) the ship is listed as being anchored in the St. Lawrence River enroute to Santander, Spain.
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Photo credit: James Heinz and Wikipedia
James Heinz is the Wisconsin Marine Historical Society’s acquisitions director. He became interested in maritime history as a kid watching Jacques Cousteau’s adventures on TV. He was a Great Lakes wreck diver until three episodes of the bends forced him to retire from diving. He was a University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee police officer for thirty years. He regularly flies either a Cessna 152 or 172.
