(WXYZ) — The Soo Locks in Sault Ste. Marie are a critical piece to the ever-important Great Lakes shipping industry.
Each year, from late March through mid-January of the next year, hundreds of ships go through Lakes Superior and Huron, up and the St. Mary's River, transporting tens of millions of tons of cargo.
Watch below: Video shows scale model of Soo Locks testing ice flow
Data obtained from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which manages the Soo Locks, shows just how many ships and how often those ships went through the locks.
According to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, there were 284 different ships that went through the Soo Locks during the 2025-26 shipping season. Of those, more than 100 ships only went through the locks once or twice.
However, there were plenty of ships that made the trip dozens of times.
Below are the Top 25 ships that went through the locks the most during last year's shipping season.
- Lee A. Tregurtha - 94 locks
- Edwin H. Gott - 82 locks
- Joseph L. Block - 80 locks
- Edgar B. Speer - 78 locks (tie)
- Kaye E. Barker - 78 locks (tie)
- American Century - 77 locks (tie)
- Tug W.I. Scott Purvis - 77 locks (tie)
- Paul R. Tregurtha - 74 locks
- Indiana Harbor - 73 locks (tie)
- Walter J. McCarthy Jr. - 73 locks (tie)
- James R. Barker - 70 locks
- Mesabi Miner - 69 locks
- American Spirit - 68 locks (tie)
- M/V Victory 1 - 68 locks
- Burns Harbor - 65 locks
- American Integrity - 64 locks (tie)
- Stewart J. Cort - 64 locks (tie)
- John G. Munson - 62 locks (tie)
- Tug Owen M. Frederick - 60 locks
- H. Lee White - 56 locks (tie)
- John J. Boland - 56 locks (tie)
- Kathy McKeil - 53 locks
- American Mariner - 52 locks
- Tug Dirk S. Vanenkevort - 52 locks
- Tug Wilfred M. Cohen - 51 locks
Note: Those numbers are for ships and tugs, but do not include recreational boats or boats from the Soo Locks tours, which went through the locks thousands of times during the season.
