For over 114 years, The Great Lakes Tow­ing Com­pa­ny has worked with the Unit­ed States and the Cana­di­an Coast Guards to pro­vide ice break­ing ser­vices to US, Cana­di­an, and for­eign ves­sels tran­sit­ing the Great Lakes. The com­mer­cial ice­break­ing indus­try, in con­cert with the Coast Guard and the Gov­ern­ment of Cana­da, con­ducts ice­break­ing ser­vices to assist ves­sels and com­mu­ni­ties in emer­gency sit­u­a­tions and facil­i­tate essen­tial com­mer­cial mar­itime activ­i­ties in the Great Lakes by sus­tain­ing the nav­i­ga­ble water­ways for com­mer­cial traf­fic and trans­port of cargo.

There is a great eco­nom­ic ben­e­fit to hav­ing US Coast Guard, Cana­di­an Coast Guard, and com­mer­cial ser­vices avail­able.  They allow for ports to remain open and active year round, dur­ing both the nav­i­gat­ing sea­son and the clo­sure of the Sea­way, and ves­sel own­ers and oper­a­tors can rely on the 24/7/365 respon­sive­ness of the ice­break­ing ser­vices.  The very fact that the com­mer­cial ice­break­ing ser­vices are uti­lized year after year by ves­sels tran­sit­ing the Great Lakes demon­strates their neces­si­ty and eco­nom­ic viability.

The Great Lakes Tow­ing Com­pa­ny pro­vides tug­boat and tow­ing ser­vices, ship assist, logis­tics and car­go trans­porta­tion, ice break­ing, and emer­gency assis­tance of every kind of ves­sel, barge, and marine struc­ture in 40 U.S. Great Lakes ports from Buf­fa­lo, New York to Duluth, Min­neso­ta.  The Tow­ing Company’s tugs are avail­able to per­form com­mer­cial ice break­ing ser­vices dur­ing the win­ter months of the Great Lakes Nav­i­gat­ing sea­son.  The tugs are capa­ble of break­ing ice of up to three feet thick and windrows up to six feet high.  Nor­mal­ly, the Tow­ing Com­pa­ny pro­vides ice break­ing ser­vices with­in the har­bors and in dock areas and slips, but they also pro­vide ice break­ing ser­vices in nav­i­ga­ble waters across the lakes in Fed­er­al Chan­nels and ship­ping lanes when U.S. Coast Guard or Cana­di­an ice break­ers are not available.