The Great Lakes Group includes: - The Great Lakes Towing Company - Great Lakes East, LLC - Great Lakes Shipyard - Plotz Machine - Soo Linehandling Services

The Great Lakes Towing Company owns and operates the largest fleet of shipdocking tugboats on the U.S. Great Lakes-Saint Lawrence Seaway. The "Towing Company," as it is known, is the principle provider of commercial tugboat services in more than 35 U.S. ports, in all 8 U.S. Great Lakes’ states, including Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, New York, and the St. Lawrence River, and maintains nearly 99% market share of the harbor towing business in U.S. Great Lakes ports. Its operating area extends over 8,300 miles of shoreline, encompassing a water surface area of roughly 100,000 square miles. No other towing company in the U.S. matches this range of service. Services include harbor towing, docking and undocking assistance, ice breaking, rescue and assistance to grounded or damaged ships, and interport towing of vessels and barges.The Towing Company’s operations include a shipyard doing business under the name “Great Lakes Shipyard” ("GLS"). Located on the Old River Channel of the Cuyahoga River, GLS facilities include a 820-metric ton Marine Travelift and over 1,500-feet of river frontage for berthing. The shipyard's operations also include over 3,000-feet of off-site winter dock space upriver. Click here for more information: http://thegreatlakesgroup.com/great-lakes-shipyard.

After a stint as 3rd Engineer aboard a Sealift Tanker, I started my career with The Great Lakes Group in the Towing Company's "old" shipyard as an engineering and project administrator, and worked through several roles of increasing responsibility. In Jan 1993 was assigned as Project Manager at Runyan Shipyard and relocated to Pensacola, FL. Returned to Cleveland in mid-1995 to help form Tugz International LLC, and was assigned as engineering manager and Owner Representative through the construction of the Company's 5-vessel "Z-Class" ASD new build program, including two (2) new tugs built in 1995 by Halter Marine -Lockport, LA for bareboat charter; and three (3) new tugs completed in 1999 by Marco Shipyard, Seattle and delivered to the US Navy in Pearl Harbor, HI under a longterm MSC time charter. In 1997, instrumental in identifying and acquiring tugs for the start-up of Puerto Rico Towing & Barge Co. in San Juan, PR. Then, in 2000, focused on the Company's charter fleet, which included 10 tugs operating on the East, Gulf, and West Coasts. This included preparations and outfitting of two (2) "Z-Class" tugs for operations under a franchise awarded by Broward County for harbor towing services in Port Everglades, FL. In 2004, began design and engineering for redevelopment of the Company's Cleveland-based shipyard facilities. Phase I of this program was completed in 2006, and the Company relocated from its downtown offices of 77-years in the Terminal Tower to the new headquarters co-located with the shipyard. Later, the shipyard expansion would include more than $14 Million in improvements, including over 1,000-feet of new sheet pile bulkhead, the addition of a 700MT marine travelift with new lift well, and engineered ground stabilization of nearly 5 acres.