A fire broke out aboard the 81-year-old bulk carrier Cuyahoga, one of the oldest cargo vessels transiting the Great Lakes, on March 15, 2024 while the ship was docked at Ashtabula, Oh.
According to the Coast Guard, Cuyahoga – named for the river in Ohio – was undergoing maintenance in preparation for the latest shipping season when the fire started.
A preliminary investigation found the cause to be welding, which ignited the paint in a cargo hold at about 2 p.m.
The extent of damage to the vessel is being assessed.
The ship is operated by Lower Lakes Towing, a subsidiary of Rand Logistics, and is used for transporting stone, iron ore, coal, and other bulk commodities on the Great Lakes.
A helicopter from Coast Guard Air Station Detroit, craft from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, TowBoatUS, and a pair of Canadian Coast Guard boats responded to the incident.
By evening of the following day, eight members of the 20-person crew were identified as “non-essential,” and taken off the boat, while the remaining crew was left aboard to evaluate damage and make repairs.
Built as J. Burton Ayers in 1943 at a cost of $1.8 million, the self-discharging ship was the first bulk carrier in the Lower Lakes Towing fleet when it was acquired by the company in 1995.
At the time, the vessel had been idle at Toledo and, after a complete refit, was returned to service as the Cuyahoga.
In 1974, the vessel was converted to a self-unloader with equipment installed that consisted of a two-belt gravity fed system with hydraulic gates and a forward-mounted 250-foot discharge boom that can swing 100 degrees to either port or starboard.
The recent incident is the second fire in less than a year aboard Cuyahoga.
On May 23, 2023, a fire broke out in the Canadian-registered vessel’s engine room while it was transiting Lake Erie near Pelee Island. That fire was quickly contained and no injuries were reported.
Powered by a 2,500 hp four crank, double compound steam engine, the Cuyahoga is the second oldest Canadian-registered ‘Lake boat’ still in active service.