You can see it best from the Hoan Bridge, but it’s also been extremely visible from Summerfest, from Bradford Beach, from the Harley Homecoming in Veterans Park, from South Shore Park.
It is the red-hulled Federal Katsura, a 190.44-meter-long bulk carrier ship flying a Marshall Islands flag, and it has been sitting out beyond the breakwater in Lake Michigan since shortly after it arrived on July 1.
After unloading at Logistec at the port, it went to anchor on July 3.
The 23.6-meter-wide Class A cargo ship – built in 2005 in Japan – is no stranger to Port Milwaukee, but it has been floating out there just outside of the port for such a long time that folks are beginning to ask.
Five days ago already there was a Reddit thread about it, asking why it’s there.
Some have suggested it’s waiting for space at the dock, waiting for a crew change, awaiting instructions for its next move or even vying to become the next vessel that Milwaukee will obsess over.
Port spokesperson Madison Goldbeck says, “it was a last minute booking for DeLong (on Jones Island) and then it needed to clean its cargo before it could load any grain products.”
The Federal Katsura is often in port to collect grain, but it also carries other cargo, including cement and salt.
Once cleaned, the ship has been waiting for its cargo and in fact it is expected to dock around noon today.
“Then it'll begin loading tomorrow morning,” says Goldbeck. “The destination port for the offload has still not been determined.”
The crew remains on the vessel while at anchor, Goldbeck says.
The reason that the ship bides its time out in the open water instead of at a vacant dock is that it’s free to sit out there and it costs money to occupy dock space.
Enjoy the view of the Federal Katsura today – and especially tonight as it looks best with its lights glittering out in the darkness – before she departs tomorrow.
In case you’re wondering Federal Katsura really gets around. Since May 1, she’s called at Montreal, Quebec, Belfast, Waterford (Ireland), IJmuiden (Netherlands), back to Montreal, Port Weller (Canada), Cleveland, Burns Harbor (Indiana) and finally Milwaukee.
In some of those ports the vessel spent as many as five days, but also as little as 48 minutes.
UPDATE...
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press. A fifth collects Urban Spelunking articles about breweries and maltsters.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has been heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
