After decades of its bulk cargo vessels transporting goods through the Soo Locks during shipping season, Interlake Maritime Services is expanding its maritime footprint with the recently-announced acquisition of Original Soo Locks Boat Tours.
The third-generation business has been a tourist attraction in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. since it was founded in 1934 by Captain Milo Beechwood Welch.
Nowadays, the Original Soo Locks Boat Tours carries out its narrated cruises along the St. Marys River and through the locks with three passenger vessels and approximately 20 employees during peak tourist season.
“The Sault plays an important role for our company on a whole lot of levels,” said Interlake Maritime Services President Mark W. Barker, speaking with SooToday from Cleveland, Ohio earlier this week. “It just was sort of a neat little niche that we thought was interesting and increase our presence up in the Sault,” he said.
Interlake owns a number of subsidiaries, which includes Interlake Steamship Company, Interlake Logistics Solutions, Interlake Port Services and Soo Maritime Services from its corporate headquarters in Middleburg Heights, Ohio, with additional regional offices in Duluth, Minn., and Ludington, Mich.
Just last year, Interlake Maritime Services acquired the SS Badger, a vessel offering car ferry service between Ludington, Mich. and Manitowoc, Wisc.
Barker says his family has a number of ties to Sault Ste. Marie, spanning more than five decades.
His grandmother grew up in the Sault Mich. and is buried there. His father’s grandfather was a local butcher and worked aboard the supply boat that serviced vessels that traveled the Great Lakes along with his uncle.
Barker’s dad, James R. Barker, was also stationed in Sault Ste. Marie when he joined the United States Coast Guard upon graduating college. Barker’s dad would eventually buy the fleet that his grandfather and uncle had worked to supply years earlier..
“The Sault isn’t a new place to us as a company or as a family, and so getting up there and getting involved in the Sault - and getting the the word out to all the people that come visit the Sault about the history and what the Soo Locks and all that means - it’s a nice thing to be a part of,” Barker said.
