Lake Michigan Carferry SS Badger Seeks Alternative Fuels

The last coal-fired passenger steamship in the U.S. is attempting to become more green while maintaining its steam-powered charm as it travels to and from Wisconsin.

Last year, the SS Badger received a $600,000 federal grant to study alternative fuel sources beyond coal in efforts to make the ship zero-carbon.

The Badger connects Manitowoc to Ludington, Michigan, through a four-hour ferry ride across Lake Michigan. The ship first set sail on the lake more than 70 years ago. In 2016, the U.S. Department of the Interior designated the Badger a National Historic Landmark.

Andy VerVelde, a chief engineer on the Badger, recently joined WPR’s “Wisconsin Today,” and called the ship a “living piece of history.” He also highlighted the “unique people and intimate knowledge” necessary to keep the ship going.

“It’s not as bad as what you’d picture in the movie ‘Titanic.’ But there is a fair amount of manual labor that goes into it,” he said. “And it’s hot. That’s true. Coal gets fed automatically by a system that we upgraded about 10 years back in an effort to become more efficient.”

Alongside VerVelde was Tom Hawley, spokesperson for the Lake Michigan Carferry, which operates the Badger.

Hawley said they’re still in the “exploratory” stages of the alternative fuel sources research. But he said modern technologies might find a way to get the ship running on alternative fuels.

“Everything aboard the ship is steam,” Hawley said. “So, keeping the best of what it is as a steamship will require another source of fuel. But if there’s a way to continue to operate the Badger and lower the environmental footprint for the ship, we’re more than willing to explore that possibility.”

Wisconsin’s historic carferry, the SS Badger, seeks alternative fuel sources was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.