MUSKEGON, MI — In its 20th season, the Lake Express is expected to have a banner year.
Designed to bypass Chicago area traffic, the high-speed catamaran car ferry that connects Milwaukee, Wisconsin to Muskegon, Michigan, has officially left the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic in its wake, officials say.
“Been through a lot with COVID and the other things going on but what we saw starting last year, and continuing this year, is a real appetite for travel,” said Aaron Schultz, senior vice president for the Lake Express. “We’re having what we think will be our best year ever.”
The 192-foot ferry has a top speed of 34 knots, about 39 miles per hour, carrying up to 250 passengers. The high-speed car and passenger ferry boasts the fastest ferry service on Lake Michigan, crossing the around 80 miles in about 2.5 hours. Drive time from Muskegon to Milwaukee is about 4.5 hours.
“We’re meant to go fast,” Schultz said.
“We’ve got full car decks, people coming from all over,” Schultz said. “About 50 different countries have come through, all 50 states, and everyday we’re seeing people from dozens of states - even into the fall months here, we’re going strong.”
Interesting to hear! It sounds like they were on track to have a great year & the difficulties of the SS Badger threw it into overdrive.
Id love to potentially see a 3rd ferry route at some point & i feel the demand we are seeing is a great sign that duch a concept would be viable.
The Milwaukee Clipper (the boat that the Lake Express replaced) primarily went between Milwaukee and Muskegon but they did seasonal routes all over Lake Michigan. Folks complain about the cost of running high-speed passenger rail from Milwaukee to Green Bay but what if there was another ferry route going from Chicago to Milwaukee and onward to Green Bay? I would use it.