Lake Express

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On June 1st 2004 a fast ferry service was started on Lake Michigan called Lake Express. It is scheduled to make three round trips per day between Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Muskegon, Michigan.

It was the first fast catamaran ferry service on any of the North American Great Lakes. The larger Spirit of Ontario was scheduled to have initiated a service between Rochester, New York and Toronto, Ontario. But unexpected delays allowed the Lake Express to claim to be the first fast catamaran service.

The Lake Express is built to a design from Austal Enterprises, an Australian firm which has designed or constructed many similar fast catamarans.

A crossing normally takes two and a half hours, and the vessel is scheduled to make three round trips per day, in season.

Specifications [1]
Length 58.4 metres
Beam 17.6 metres
Draft 2.5 metres
Displacement 148 tons
Crew 8
Vehicles 46
Max. Passengers 400
Speed 34 knots

References

  1. "Vessel Specifications", Lake Express Official Web Site, Accessed April 27, 2006