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3. Marine News - cont'd. The Manitowoc Marine Group has won a construction contract which will bene­ fit both its Sturgeon Bay and Toledo shipyards. The job involves the buil­ ding of a 504 x 78, double-hulled, ocean-going tank barge for Mobil Oil. Work was scheduled to begin in February, and the barge is expected to enter east coast and Hudson River service in 2000. The barge's hull will be built by Bay Shipbuilding at Sturgeon Bay, while the Toledo Ship Repair Co. will build deck and internal bulkhead assemblies, which will be barged to Sturgeon Bay this spring. By early April, the former Shaker Cruise Lines cross-lake ferry LAKE RUNNER had been removed from her winter berth on the west side of Toronto's Yonge Street slip and placed alongside the Toronto Harbour Commission's yard on the south side of the Keating Channel. The Harbour Commission seized LAKE RUNNER late in 1998 as security against an unpaid wharfage account, and the move of the ship guarantees her safety, for access to the Keating Channel (or from it) can only be had if the Harbour Commission lifts the North Cher­ ry Street bascule bridge which blocks the west end of the waterway. Meanwhile, officials on both sides of Lake Ontario appear buoyant over the plans of Lake Ontario Fast Ferry Corp. to have a service operating between Toronto and Rochester in the summer of 2000. Plans call for the ferries to dock at the Eastern Gap area in Toronto (good for cars but not exactly handy for passengers), and in a revitalized Charlotte port area at Rochester. A new 5, 000 h. p. tug, to be named JAMES PALLADINO, which will be 110 feet long, has been ordered from a Gulf Coast yard by Inland Bulk Inc., Cleve­ land. She reportedly will be powered by Cummins Wartsila machinery, and will handle a 12, 000 d w t . barge in the limestone trade between Kelleys Island and Cleveland. That run is presently handled by the Kellstone Inc. tug FRANK PALLADINO JR. and her barge, KELLSTONE I. On March 17th, as the icebreaker U. S. C. G. MACKINAW was breaking out the Duluth-Superior harbour, the U. S. House of Representatives passed a bill providing $128 million in the 2001 fiscal year for the construction of a new icebreaker to replace the 55-year-old MACKINAW. The bill must still be con­ sidered by the Senate. An interesting comment made by the Democratic con­ gressman from Minnesota was to the effect that "The MACKINAW... is older than most members of Congress"! The first vessel out of the Lakehead behind the MACKINAW on the 17th was the 1, 013-footer PAUL R. TREGURTHA, the longest vessel on the Great Lakes. There was little ice for the MACKINAW to break this year, but she cut a path upbound through Whitefish Bay on March 15, af­ ter locking up at the Soo ten days before the official canal opening. In mid-March, more than a year after construction bids were let, a state loan was approved to give the Eastern Upper Peninsula Transportation Autho­ rity the ability to have Basic Marine Inc., Escanaba, begin work on a new $2. 7 million, 147' x 32', 32-car ferry for the Drummond Island route across the lower entrance to the St. Mary's River. Meanwhile, the State of Michigan is considering dropping subsidies to all of EUPTA's ferry routes, which would result in major fare increases for island travellers. It appeared in early March that a settlement was likely in the litigation between the Elberta Village Council and the society which seeks to preserve the carferry CITY OF MILWAUKEE as a museum there. The rancorous dispute has involved both state and federal lawsuits. * * * * * GLENMOUNT POSTPONED We had hoped to present in this issue a follow-up to our February feature on the steamer GLENMOUNT (II). But our current feature on the MONTREAL has run far longer than we anticipated, so please look for a return trip aboard GLENMOUNT in the May issue.