SUPERIOR, Wis. – Fraser Shipyards is embarking on a three-year, $30 million project to upgrade one of its massive dry docks to secure the future of one of the region's longest-running businesses.
"I always say the yard's been around 130 years and I don't want to be the one to close it down," said President Dave Steininger. "The objective here is to renew the dock to the point where we can use it again for large commercial vessels."
Tucked inside Howard's Bay on the northern edge of the city of Superior, Fraser Shipyards largely works on repairing commercial freighters that ply the Great Lakes. Most recently the yard restored Duluth's floating museum, the William A. Irvin.
Renewing Dry Dock No. 1, first built in 1891, will ensure the company can handle vessels with "deep drafts that cannot currently enter either of Fraser's dry docks," according to a project statement approved by the Superior City Council last week. The yard is also starting to take on new construction projects that the dry dock could help with, Steininger said.
It will take about $26 million in state and federal assistance to fully complete the project, and the process of securing those funds has just begun.
The project will be completed in phases and, if grants come through on time, could wrap up in 2023.
Still, Steininger said the company is charging ahead with the work it can do this year and expects to go out for bids in July.
"As a smaller private enterprise you can't afford to do these without help," he said, calling the project a "50-year asset" improvement that he expects the Wisconsin Department of Transportation to support.
