MUNSTER, Ind. (AP) - An abandoned-looking ship bulk carrier will finally be moved from an Illinois port after sitting there for decades.
C-T-C No. 1, which is currently at the Port of Chicago, is a shipping freighter that first set sail in 1943. The ship originally hauled cargo, including raw materials for steelmakers, across the Great Lakes. But most recently, it had been used for cement storage until 2009, The (Northwest Indiana) Times reported.
Clayton Harris III, the Illinois International Port District Executive Director, said ship owner Grand River Navigation should tow away and scrap the ship in a few weeks.
Harris estimates the ship’s metal will go for more than $1 million when scrapped.
“The goal is to have it removed by the end of this month, but I don’t know if that’s truly going to happen,” Harris said. “We’re hopeful it will be removed by the end of the year before the lake freezes.”
The ship’s removal will free up more dock space that can be leased out.
“It’s been there forever,” Harris said. “This will improve the aesthetic look of the port.”
In its prime, the self-unloading bulker could haul up to 16,300 tons of cargo in its four holds.
In 1974, C-T-C struck a bridge on a canal in Ontario, Canada, causing extensive damage to the vessel and closing the bridge permanently.
Bethlehem Steel Corp. owned the ship before selling it to Cement Transit Co. in Detroit, which turned it into a cerement storage barge. It was towed by the tug boats John M. Selvick and Minnie Selvick to the Port of Chicago in 1982, where it was used to store and transfer concrete until a decade ago.
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Information from: The Times, http://www.nwitimes.com
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