The 639-foot-long Great Lakes freighter built in Door County is still in the running for the 2022 “Coolest Things Made in Wisconsin” contest.
The M/V Mark W. Barker, built by Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding in Sturgeon Bay, advanced to the Round of 8 in the annual Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce-sponsored contest by outpolling Aerozen Advanced Performance Coating System, an exterior coating made by Hentzen Coatings of Milwaukee that, among other uses, helps beautify and protect the exterior of the U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels Super Hornet fighter aircraft.
The contest opened with 121 nominated products that were narrowed to a top 16 for the first round of what WMC calls “Manufacturing Madness,” which pits each product head-to-head against another in a bracket format. Online public voting determined the winners of each matchup, which were announced Oct. 5.