2022 Michigan Freighter Gallery: We Like Big Boats

One of our favorite things to do while traveling around Michigan is see all the Great Lakes freighters that visit our port or pass by our shores. Seeing these large boats transport huge cargoes is still quite a sight to behold, and we are blessed here in the Great Lakes state to have some of the best spots for up-close viewing. Our top Michigan freighter spots are the Soo Locks and Rotary Park in Sault Ste. Marie, Port Huron, Drummond Island, Marquette, and Mackinaw City. This year we were lucky to visit all of these locations as well as a few others, and while we didn’t see as many total boats as we have in prior years we did see quite a few “new to us” boats. Our June trip to the Upper Peninsula and a September vacation on Drummond Island (The St. Mary’s River is always a great place to see the international vessels that head to Lake Superior, like the Blacky and Floretgracht) gave us our best sightings, and we even saw a few freighters in multiple locations throughout the year.

This was another busy year for freighters as well as the other work ships on the Great Lakes. Above you can see the Drummond Islander III pulling double duty, taking cars to Sugar Island in June and running visitors to and from Drummond Island in September. We like to put together a photo gallery of freighters in Michigan each year, and below you will find a look at this year’s ships as well as some notes on when and where we saw them. It still amazes me that we can get so close to boats that are hundreds of feet long and get some amazing photos of them. This is our 2022 Michigan freighter gallery, and like it says in the title of this post – we like big boats! Two helpful things we recommend to those that like seeing freighters are the Marine Traffic app for your smartphone and the Know Your Ships book published each year by Roger Lelievre.