The American Steamship Company (ASC) is an American transportation company that operates a fleet of self-unloading vessels in the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lakes ...

. The company is currently owned by Rand Logistics Inc.

History

The American Steamship Company was founded in 1907 in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

by partners John J. Boland and Adam E. Cornelius. Their first ship, the SS ''Yale'' was the first steel vessel owned by a Buffalo firm and earned large profits for the partners. Over the next five years, the company added six new vessels to their fleet. At the end of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, the American Steamship Company became the first Great Lakes steamship company to outfit all of its vessels with

radio telegraph Wireless telegraphy or radiotelegraphy is transmission of text messages by radio waves, analogous to electrical telegraphy using electrical cable, cables. Before about 1910, the term ''wireless telegraphy'' was also used for other experimental t ...

equipment. ASC acquired the Mitchell Steamship Company in 1922, thus adding another four vessels to its growing fleet. ASC was hard hit by the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

, but took advantage of the downturn to convert three of its bulk freighters to self-unloading vessels, which would prove to be the way of the future in Great Lakes shipping. In the 1940s, self-unloaders would bring new business to ASC, and the focus of the company would shift from transporting

iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the fo ...

and

grain A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and legum ...

to shipping

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...

and

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, ASC was active in the war effort, at one point having twenty ships engaged in war trades around the world. The company embarked on a major expansion in the 1950s, though the company continued to be run by Boland and Cornelius and their sons. By 1965, ASC's annual volume exceeded 20 million tons, and in 1967 the firm acquired the Oswego Shipping Company. The company again launched an expansion effort and used funds provided under the Merchant Marine Act of 1970 to retire older tonnage and begin construction of a new fully modernized fleet of ten vessels. In 1973, the Boland and Cornelius families sold ASC to the

General American Transportation Corporation GATX Corporation is a railcar lessor that owns fleets in North America, Europe, and Asia. In addition, jointly with Rolls-Royce Limited, it owns one of the largest aircraft spare engine lease portfolios. It is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. ...

(GATX), which oversaw completion of the newbuild program. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, ASC became one of the first shipping companies to introduce onboard computers on all of its vessels. From 2002 to 2006, the company partnered with Oglebay Norton Marine Services to create a combined "Alliance Fleet" of 18 US-Flagged vessels operating on the Great Lakes, making it the largest American domestic provider of dry bulk self-unloader transportation services on the Great Lakes. In 2006 following the completion of bankruptcy proceedings surrounding Oglebay Norton and its holdings, ASC divested several smaller vessels from the former Oglebay fleet while acquiring two additional 1,000 foot vessels and one smaller "River Class" vessel from the former company, which then formed the basis of the subsequent 11-vessel fleet for the next decade. On February 7, 2020, GATX announced on their corporate website that an agreement for the sale of American Steamship Company had been reached and was pending regulatory approval before proceeding. On May 17, 2020 it was announced that the buyer was American Industrial Partners (AIP), who owned RAND Logistics Inc and their subsidiary fleets of Grand River Navigation and Lower Lakes Towing. In early 2021, Rand Logistics Inc. chartered out the operations of ASC's five smaller "River Class" Vessels to their sister fleet, Grand River Navigation as a cost-cutting measure, while retaining the six 1,000 foot vesselsRAND Logistics Inc.
/ref> under ASC operational ownership. As of January 2023, ASC continues to operate its six 1,000 foot vessels as part of the combined Rand Logistics Group.

Current Fleet

* M/V - Formerly the Oglebay Norton/Columbia Transportation M/V Columbia Star (1981-2006) * M/V - Formerly the Oglebay Norton M/V Lewis Wilson Foy (1978-1991), M/V Oglebay Norton (1991-2006) * M/V - Formerly the National Steel M/V George Stinson (1978-2004) * M/V * M/V * M/V - Formerly the M/V Belle River 19 M/V Belle River (1977-1990)

Former Fleet

* M/V - Scrapped 2022 following a fire while in layup at Toledo, OH in 2019 * M/V - Now operated by Grand River Navigation * M/V - Now operated by Grand River Navigation * M/V - Now operated by Grand River Navigation * M/V - Now operated by Grand River Navigation * M/V - Now operated by Grand River Navigation

References

External links

ASC website
{{Authority control Shipping companies of the United States Great Lakes Shipping Companies

History

Current Fleet

Former Fleet

See also

References

External links