US-based Great Lakes Shipyard has completed a contract providing winter lay-up and repair work on a tug and barge, ‘John Spence’ and ‘Niagara Spirit’ for Canadian tug-barge company McKeil Marine.

The completion of general steel work on both the tug and barge and the installation of a winch system for the cover of the ‘Niagara Spirit’ marks the first major repair contract that Great Lakes has had with a Canadian company. A division of the Great Lakes Towing Company, the shipyard operates a full-service yard specialising in new construction, repairsand modifications of all types of vessels and barges.

Great Lakes’s recent projects include conversion of the Z-drive thrusters on Interlake Steamship Company’s tug ‘Dorothy Ann’ from fixed-pitch to controllable pitch and also the construction and delivery of a 60-foot work boat for the Port of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The shipyard is currently under contracts with SEACOR Holdings for the construction of two state-of-the-art ASD tractor tugs.

The shipyard is currently undergoing a major expansion that includes a new state-of-the-art 770-tonne Marine Travelift – the largest on the Great Lakes, second-largest in the Western Hemisphere, and the third-largest in the world.