Traveling Lake Erie could make some shipping companies weary, but not American Steamship Company (ASC). The company operates a fleet of 17 self-unloading vessels (ranging in length from 635-feet to 1,000-feet) that haul dry bulk commodities across the Great Lakes. The self-unloading vessels don't require land-based assistance, so they can arrive at a dock and unload any time. Transportation of iron ore pellets for steel producers accounts for about half of the company's revenue; ASC also transports such cargo as coal and limestone aggregates. The company is a unit of railcar leasing giant GATX. ASC was founded in 1907.