19-Jan-15 – If amphibious tour boats do migrate to the Chicago River, they will be quiet and safe, says the head of the company seeking state approval for “duck tours.”

“We would not engage in a business that we didn’t feel we could do excellently,” says Dan Russell, vice president and general manager of Entertainment Cruises. “That’s why we’re taking our time and following all of the proper steps and procedures. We want to do this right. We want this to be done in a way that everybody’s proud of. It can be a wonderful attraction for residents and tourists alike for a long time.”

The Chicago-based company, owned by Pritzker Group Private Capital, wants to offer tours of Chicago from a vehicle that picks up passengers at Navy Pier, takes them to Marina City and then out onto the Chicago River.

(Above) View from inside a duck vehicle. Photo by Neil Jennings.

They first need permission from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to build two ramps – a 73-foot steel and concrete ramp at the far east end of Marina City’s marina. The other, a 90-foot ramp on an unused stretch of West Polk Street, where it stops just short of the river. A proposal, details of which were made public on December 22, 2014, was submitted to the IDNR on November 19.

Despite what their appearance may suggest, the vehicles, says Russell, are not particularly loud and will not create a big splash as they enter the water.

“The key is to operate safely on the river,” he says. “That’s what it’s all about and so that’s where our focus will be with all of our friends on the river – operating safely, having all of the equipment, training, and personnel that’s expected of all of us.”

The word “duck” comes from “DUKW,” the name given the vehicle by General Motors Corporation, which during World War II took two-and-a-half ton cargo trucks and made six-wheel-drive amphibious vehicles out of them.

Duck tours were offered in Chicago in the late 1990s. A local company, Chicago DUKW Corporation, specializes in restoring, selling, and maintaining the vehicles, of which an estimated 200 are in operation around the country. (Left) A duck vehicle on Michigan Avenue in 1999. Photo by Vincent Falk.

Russell says his company has kept in touch with duck tour operators in other cities and about two years ago, when asked why the tours were not being done in Chicago, “that got the spark going and we started doing our research and homework and one thing led to another.”

The company operates eight boats from Navy Pier, including four versions of Seadog, a boat with 2200-horsepower engines that tours the Chicago River before taking passengers on a high-speed ride along the lakefront.

“We operate wonderful businesses on the water off Navy Pier right now that coexist with our shoreline, with our lakefront, and of course, the great city of Chicago up and down the river,” says Russell, “and that’s exactly what we would intend to do [on the river].” If they get their permits in the next month or two, Russell says they might start offering the tours yet this year. Otherwise, he says they are “very comfortable opening in 2016.” (Right) Seadog tour boat on Chicago River west of Dearborn Street Bridge and Marina City on July 12, 2013.