Built in Onaway, Miss Margy christened for Sheplers
by Richard Lamb–
Advance Editor
With a swing of a bottle, Gov. Rick Snyder and CEO Bill Shepler christened the newest addition to the Shepler’s Mackinac Island Ferry fleet – the $3.8 million, 85-foot Miss Margy – the first ferry to be built in northern Michigan.
Crafted by the crew at Moran Iron Works in Onaway, the construction included the products and services of 20 Michigan companies. Shepler was determined to keep work on the company’s sixth and largest passenger ferry in Michigan.
“When my parents – including my mother, Margaret, Miss Margy’s namesake – started this business, they never dreamed that 70 years later they would be helping to lead one of the most robust tourism economies in the nation,” Shepler said. “The state and this region have been crucial to the success of our third-generation business, and we wanted to make sure we gave something back.”
“The pressure, as far as building the vessel is off. This really demonstrated the commitment of the Shepler family. This is really all about sacrifice and commitment. I think that sums it up. Anybody else would, if they were going to spend $4 million, have just sent the check off to the Gulf of Mexico and took on a new vessel. My hat is off to them,” said Tom Moran, founder and CEO of Moran Iron Works.
Moran said the project took the first four months of the year requiring 12,000 man-hours on Moran’s shop floor.
“We have done bigger projects, but they all make you proud. This is a special one and really part of northern Michigan, which will be here for decades. In our community, we don’t do enough heavy industry and we are not enough into the marine industry so this helps plant a seed. This isn’t the last high-speed ferry that will be launched in Rogers City,” Moran said.
Among the challenges Moran faced was getting the 135,000-pound ferry from the shop in Onaway to Moran’s Port Calcite Collaborative, the deep-water port in Rogers City.
The ferry was loaded onto a semitrailer to make the 21-mile journey along the high-wire corridor in late May. Miss Margy was then lifted by crane into the water and piloted by Shepler and his son, Billy, Shepler’s fleet captain, the 50 miles to Mackinaw City for final outfitting.
Master of ceremonies Paul W Smith, morning personality at Detroit radio station WJR, said everything about the day was intentional, starting with the construction of the boat in northern Michigan.
“The Sheplers were committed to giving back to that region of the state that has done so much for them,” Smith said. “The second reason this event is so special is that it marks 70th anniversary in business for the Shepler family.”
The first Miss Margy, Smith told the invited guests at the Shepler hangar, was a cabin cruiser with two V-8 engines, constructed in 1949 by Captain William H. Shepler, CEO Bill Shepler’s father, some 100 feet away from where the current Miss Margy is being finished.
Snyder said the day represented the best of Michigan, more than a simple event.
“This is how Michiganders can make special things happen. If you think about it, it wasn’t too many years ago when we didn’t do that. We spent a lot of time fighting with one another or blaming one another. We paid the price for that. What today represents is really the reinvention of Michigan. The fact that we know we can do anything when we do it together,” the governor said.
The governor complimented Moran Iron Works for being able to carry out the project.
The new vessel is the lar
The ferry will have a top speed of about 40 mph Sheplers employs 210 with 50 full time and transports 350,000 visitors to Mackinac Island each year.
Final work on Miss Margy is being done in a huge tent that has been attached temporarily to the Shepler’s Marine Service building, where the christening was held.
Others joining in toasting the new vessel on the speaker’s podium, were U.S. Rep. Dan Benishek, state Rep. Lee Chatfield, state Sen. Wayne Schmidt, and Dan Musser, owner of the Grand H