Directly from boatnerd.com
5/25 - The Edward L. Ryerson may sail again, and soon. Workers were busy earlier this week running various tests as well as conducting an inventory of equipment needed before the idle vessel can sail, according to waterfront observers in Sturgeon Bay. Reports also indicate the handsome vessel will be placed in the drydock for hull evaluation sometime next week.
The Ryerson is in need of a five-year Coast Guard inspection before she will be allowed to sail. Radars, removed for use on other vessels, will have to be replaced and AIS will need to be installed.
There has been no official announcement from Central Marine Logistics, which would operate the vessel for owner Mittal Steel.
In lay up since the end of the 1998 shipping season at Sturgeon Bay, it had been widely believed that the career of classic, 730-foot, straight-deck steamer was over, doomed by her lack of self-unloading equipment, high crew size and expensive steam power plant. Improved demand for ore may be behind this renewed interest in the Ryerson.
If plans to refit the vessel go ahead, it is hoped she would be ready to sail by the end of June or early July. Reports indicate her runs would include trips from Escanaba and Duluth to Indiana Harbor.