Welcoming a New Ship to the Lakes

 So today was my birthday and as a result, I took it off.  As I was looking at potential river traffic, I saw that this one was making its way down.

The Maxima is a new visitor to the Great Lakes.  This is her first season on the Great Lakes.

She looks kind of like a modern version of a classic Great Lakes freighter.  As a result, I wanted to catch her.

I missed her as she was heading upbound.  Her first trip was to Chicago.

From Chicago, she went up to Superior.  In Superior, she loaded sugar beets.  As I type this, she heading to Ireland with that cargo.

She is roughly 450 feet long and is wide enough to pass through the Welland Canal.

She is owned by Wagenborg and was built last year.  I'll have to admit she was a pretty cool looking ship.

It was worth getting up early to catch her.

And I don't think my pictures of her are too bad.

One more shot of her.  As I type this, she is almost to the Welland Canal.