Overnight sailings of the SS Badger return for 2025
The SS Badger’s 2025 sailing season will include regular overnight crossings from June 20 to Sept. 1. The regular season of Lake Michigan’s largest cross lake ferry is May 16 to Oct. 12. The daytime schedule is seven days a week, departing Ludington, Michigan at 9 a.m. (ET) and arriving in Manitowoc, Wisconsin at noon…
Why is the SS Badger’s Ludington berth called Slip No. 2?
Modern view of the carferry docks In the early 1930s, the Ludington cross lake car ferry fleet consisted of nine ships that operated 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, transporting mostly rail freight from Ludington, Michigan to the Wisconsin ports of Manitowoc, Milwaukee and Kewaunee. For that fleet of…
Jr. Capt. Gabriel’s SS Badger ferry adventure
SS Badger Entertainer Todd Hansen with Jr. Capt. Gabriel Mary Svacina has had a tradition of taking each of her grandsons on a Round Trip Mini Cruise on the SS Badger ever since they each turned 5 years old. Last summer, she took her youngest grandson, Gabriel. Svacina, 71, lives in Grimms, Wis., located in Manitowoc County, about 15 miles…
SS Badger to undergo repairs in dry dock
Lake Michigan Carferry File Photo of SS Badger’s starboard propeller in dry dock at Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding (FBS) in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin in 2021. For Immediate Release March 11, 2025 LUDINGTON, Michigan — The SS Badger cross lake ferry will be placed into dry dock this spring for repairs in preparation of the upcoming sailing…