US Customs approves Great Lakes port to link mid-West

Cargo to and from the mid-West is transported to and from ports on either the US Western or Eastern seaboards, sometimes over hundreds of kilometres, relying on often over-stretched trucking and rail services to link inland exporters and importers.

Inland logistical overloads caused massive supply chain backlogs during the Covid pandemic seeing ships at anchor for weeks in San Pedro Bay, overflowing container storage depots and rail heads as the system failed to cope with the saturated levels of cargo.

A proposal from the Ports of Indiana-Burns Harbor to establish the first international sea cargo container terminal on Lake Michigan, approved by the CBP on 2 July, could help to alleviate some of the supply chain choke points. The terminal could also cutt inland tonne miles while linking to destinations as far south as north Kentucky via the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.

Ports of Indiana CEO Jody Peacock. “Having an all-water container route into the Midwest could create transformational opportunities, but it will take time to develop. Our port has the capabilities to handle containers today, but we won’t be able to schedule regular container shipments until the customs facilities are fully operational, potentially in 2026.”

The Chicago metropolitan area is the third largest in the US with a population of 9.6m people and is home to the largest intermodal container market in North America. Currently all containers moving through the Chicago market travel by rail or truck.

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Ryan McCoy, port director at Ports of Indiana-Burns Harbor, added: “Great Lakes shipping is limited by a shorter shipping season and the use of smaller vessels, but the potential upside for handling containers is tremendous. Allowing ocean carriers to start serving this market could diversify supply chains, avoid bottlenecks and reduce the overall carbon footprint for shipping to and from the Midwest.”

Aside from the Ocean link to the St Lawrence River, the Chicago Port of Indiana is linked to the Ports of Indiana-Jefferson facility on the Ohio River, just north of Louisville, Kentucky and the river system links the Ports of Indiana-Mount Vernon terminal some 200 km west of Louisville, and another 200 km east of St Louis.

Utilising the navigable US rivers to improve the efficiency of US inland logistics was an issue that FMC commissioner Carl Bentzel has looked into, visiting European countries, including The Netherlands, to study the European model of inland navigation.

“The US has a robust inland waterway system, but it has never evolved in the way that the European network has,” Bentzel said in 2020.

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Having identified the changes necessary, a number of studies have been conducted into increasing the usage of US rivers for freight, with the Chicago proposal the largest proposal to date.

“We’re working with several businesses that have strong interest in using a regular liner service to Burns Harbor, and the initial container projections are promising,” said Ian Hirt, a maritime consultant working with the port to develop the container business. “This will likely be a niche service that offers specialised amenities, such as refrigerated containers or a green alternative, but it could also help avoid bottlenecks and improve supply chain reliability.”