HSC Lake Express

Lake Express at Muskegon
Career
Name: 2004 onwards: Lake Express
Operator: 2004 onwards: Lake Express
Port of registry: 2004 onwards: Milwaukee United States
Builder: Austal USA, Mobile
Yard number: US 614
Identification: IMO number: 9329253
Status: In service
General characteristics
Tonnage:1,757 GT
Length:58.40 m (191 ft 7 in)[1]
Beam:17.60 m (57 ft 9 in)[1]
Draught:2.50 m (8 ft 2 in) [1]
Installed power:4 × MTU 16V 4000 M70 diesel engines[1]
Propulsion:4 x Kamewa waterjets[1]
Speed:34 knots (63 km/h)[1]
Capacity:253 passengers
46 cars[1]

Lake Express is a high-speed auto and passenger ferry that is in service on a route across Lake Michigan. Lake Express links the cities of Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Muskegon, Michigan from late spring to the fall of each year.

Background

The ship travels at a top speed of 40 miles per hour (34 knots) and makes the 68 nautical mile trip three times daily from each side of the lake during the peak of its operational schedule. Lake Express is able to cross the lake in two and a half hours. It was constructed by Austal USA in Mobile, Alabama, and began service on June 1, 2004. It was one of the first high-speed catamaran-style auto/passenger ferries built in the United States. It was also the first high-speed car ferry to see service on the Great Lakes, beating out the Spirit of Ontario I, which was beset by a series of last-minute delays, by one month.

On August 21, 2005, the ferry rescued a man whose boat had capsized in the middle of Lake Michigan.[2]

Gallery

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Austal "Auto Express 58 Data Sheet", accessed 21 January 2012
  2. ↑ "Ferry rescues boater from lake", Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, August 21, 2005

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lake Express (ship, 2004).