Do Great Lakes freighters go to the ocean?

Most newly built Lakers are constructed to Seawaymax limit to allow for off-Lakes use, but there are some larger freighters used on the Lakes that cannot pass to the Atlantic Ocean. These larger Lakers are confined to the upper Lakes (Superior, Huron, Michigan, and Erie) before the Seaway canal locks.



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Lawrence Seaway is a deep draft waterway extending 3,700 km (2,340 miles) from the Atlantic Ocean to the head of the Great Lakes, in the heart of North America.

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They hold union jobs, all the way up to the captain, and crew members say the pay and benefits are worth the sacrifices they make to be on board. Deckhands average about $55,000 to $65,000 a season, which usually equates to six or seven months of work. Officers start around $90,000.

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Lawrence Seaway (Highway H2O) Facts. Opened to deep draft navigation in 1959. Vessel maximum: 225.5 m (740 ft.)

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Port of Duluth-Superior Duluth-Superior is said to be the biggest and busiest port of the Great Lakes.

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Lake Superior is the world's largest freshwater lake by area (31,700 mi2 /82,100 km2). It is also the coldest and deepest of the Great Lakes, with a maximum depth of 406 meters (1,332 feet). By most measures, it is the healthiest of all the Great Lakes.

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Of course, the most famous Great Lakes shipwreck was that of the Edmund Fitzgerald in 1975, with none of the 29 members of its crew surviving the waters of Lake Superior. And the most deadly event was the 1958 sinking of the Carl Bradley in Lake Michigan, claiming the lives of all but two of 35 shipmates onboard.

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When launched on June 8, 1958, the Fitzgerald was the largest ship on North America's Great Lakes, and is the largest ship to have sunk there. The freighter went down in a storm on November 10, 1975, taking with her the entire crew of 29.

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