I've published four maps featuring the Great Lakes, where the Canada-U.S. border is, a very important economic sector for North America. Collectively there are over 6,000 subscriptions to the maps, so I think an accompanying custom Lake Freighter model could become a popular asset.

Particular reference:

One of the largest ships, the 'Mighty' SS Edmund Fitzgerald sank in Lake Superior in 1974 during a storm with hurricane-force winds.

More info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Edmund_Fitzgerald

Blueprints of the Fitz:
http://www.3dfitz.com/blueprints.php
http://captain-johns.com/Lakers/FitzDraw1.jpg

Some more info about Lake Freighters from Wiki:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_freighter

Lakers are generally bulk carriers; that is, they carry cargoes of rock, ore, salt or grain in large contiguous holds, not packed in containers. The earlier ships required rail cars unloading on ore docks and unloading machinery at the receiving docks,[5] but modern lakers are self unloaders, allowing them to unload faster and in more ports.

The most common cargoes on the Great Lakes are taconite, limestone, grain, salt, coal, cement, gypsum, sand, slag, and potash. Much of the cargo supplies the steel mills of the auto industry, centered around the Great Lakes because of the ease of transport. Other destinations include coal-fired power plants, highway department salt domes and stone docks, where limestone is unloaded for the construction industry. U.S.-flagged freighters carried the largest portion of the trade, accounting for two-thirds of all cargo by weight. U.S. hulls carried most of the iron, limestone and cement while Canadian boats carried most of the potash and almost all of the salt and grain moved on the lakes.