US tariffs are hitting American ports on the Great Lakes and Seaway harder than in other US regions, with steel and aluminum products from Canada and Europe significantly lower because of the 50% surcharge. While steel imports to the US rose 6% in April, they remain about 30% lower year over year with a big impact particularly on ports bordering Canada, but some of that is being offset with iron for domestic steel production and new and/or expanding port activities.
Port of Cleveland
The Port of Cleveland saw its steel imports drop about 30% last year when companies were stockpiling ahead of tariffs. This year’s volume is half of what it was in mid-2024. “We’re seeing fewer vessels and they’re carrying less tonnage,” acknowledges Jeff Epstein, the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority’s president and CEO.
The good news is iron ore shipments are up at the port by some 30% through May. “Cleveland-Cliffs has amped up its local steel production and is shipping the ore from the Upper Great Lakes,” Epstein shares. “It’s being discharged at our bulk terminal where it’s reloaded onto smaller vessels to go about 6 ½ miles upriver to the steel mill.”
Cleveland is seeing more project cargo this year with large machinery and cooling equipment arriving for a large data centre in central Ohio with plans for others.
The Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority has also launched an Economic Growth Fund. The revolving pool of capital will support manufacturing expansions, housing projects, and other infrastructure developments throughout Northeast Ohio when traditional lenders cannot be secured, or financial gaps exist.
Port of Detroit
At the Port of Detroit, tariff impacts have resulted in a drop of both rolled and flat steel imports. “Tariffs and trade uncertainties have been a cloud over our heads for the past 18 months, but I do understand the reasoning behind them,” says John Jamian, the Detroit/Wayne County Port Authority’s executive director. “We are seeing more iron ore shipments to support the resurgence in regional steel production.”
The port is identifying and cultivating new opportunities. “We’re all taking this moment to catch our breath and see what can be done to pivot until longer term investments, such as Nippon’s $14-billion pledge to US Steel, result in more domestic production.”
Jamian notes the refocus on domestic manufacturing is already spurring demand for cement to build new infrastructure. The cement from Türkiye is helping to offset the lull in steel coil and slab imports.
As a former US Maritime Administrator (2003-2006), Jamian is thoroughly familiar with shortsea shipping potential but says it remains a hard sell. “We almost had a deal with an automotive manufacturer 18 months ago – even ordering vessels – but it fell through because the economic savings weren’t large enough for the risk of a change,” he shares. “Getting shippers to try something new when what they have isn’t broken remains a challenge, so it’s mostly when there’s a supply chain disruption of some kind or fuel prices make trucking a lot more expensive that we get the opportunity to prove shortsea shipping is as an efficient and cost-effective alternative.”
Not traditionally an agricultural port, Detroit is turning its attention to handling more crops. “Michigan is the third largest US sugar beet producer, as well as a leading soybean grower,” Jamian notes. “There’s opportunities there – especially with more interest in agricultural byproducts for new fuels – but we have to build more efficient systems to handle these commodities and make the business case to get the agri-food industry to use our services.”
Interest is also mounting at the Port of Detroit for the facilities to produce and/or store biofuels as well as other newer energy sources, including hydrogen. “We’re excited about the possibilities regarding hydrogen because it’s definitely happening with the automotive industry even looking at building hydrogen cars,” Jamian says.
The increasing electrification of utility boats is opening up other maritime related opportunities to repurpose shuttered mill properties, as is the manufacturing of some military components.
Jamian says the large stretch of waterfront land that will be available alongside the river’s deep water bodes well for the future once the environmental remediation is done. “Real estate will be among our strongest assets, but it will take some work to prepare and sell to new manufacturing.”
Along with tariffs, the uncertainties in US-Canada trade relations are having an impact. “Many global and national organizations, as well as individuals, don’t realize the importance of our binational relationship, especially with Windsor, Ontario, because of the river that Detroit shares with it,” Jamian says. “The fact that we work together every single day is something that is not being discussed in the national conversation.”
Port of Duluth
Recent challenges at the Port of Duluth have included the Superior Midwest Energy Terminal (SMET) loading its final coal shipment this past June. DTE Electric decided against renewing its lease as part of the energy transition away from coal-fired power plants, ending the terminal’s 50-year operation.
Overall tonnage at the Port of Duluth has plummeted 94% year over year because of declining coal shipments. “Reinvigorating that 200-acre site with another bulk cargo, such as possibly wood chips, is part of our current discussions with various people,” says Kevin Beardsley, the Duluth Seaway Port Authority’s executive director.
“A lot of machinery is coming through Duluth on its way to Alberta, Canada, for the energy sector,” Beardsley notes. “That’s helped breakbulk and general cargo go up 9% in June.”
The US Maritime Administration awarded $27.5 million – the largest port grant in MARAD’s history – to the Port of Duluth in May to prepare the 7.5-acre Duluth Lake Pier (acquired in 2020) for cargo use. The grant through the Port Infrastructure Development Program will be supplemented by $10.8 million in secured state and local funding.
“We’re excited about the progress in revitalizing a dilapidated facility that we hope to have ready to handle future commodities by 2030-31,” says Jayson Hron, the Duluth Seaway Port Authority’s director of communications and marketing. “This ideal waterfront location with great intermodal connections will be great for what’s now and what’s next at the Port of Duluth-Superior.”
Hron is hoping policymakers realize how underutilized the Great Lakes/Seaway system remains in terms of invigorating the North American supply chain. “There’s so much more opportunity, capacity, and efficiency gains to be had in a multimodal mix that makes greater use of waterways,” Hron says.
Beardsley says that necessitates binational collaboration. “We need everyone at the table working together to create the ideal North American supply chain,” he says.
The current lack of federal-level cohesion isn’t helping. “It’s important for those at the federal level to realize that all the ports on the Great Lakes and Seaway system are acutely affected by the trade relationship between the United States and Canada, more so than ports in other US areas,” Hron notes.
Port Milwaukee
Cargo diversification at Port Milwaukee also involves handling more agricultural commodities – including soybeans and more recently corn – for export to the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Portugal. “We’re also seeing more demand recently from the Mediterranean region, particularly Türkiye.”
The Delong Co. Inc. recently completed a second phase expansion of its $40-million Agricultural Maritime Export Facility that opened at Port Milwaukee in 2023. Two new grain silos have been constructed along with electrical service upgrades and additional handling equipment.
Port Milwaukee and Delong obtained a $9.3 million grant through the U.S. Maritime Administration’s Port Infrastructure Development Program for the expansion which increase the capacity to handle soybeans, soymeal and corn for export.
“The additional silos both increase capacity by about 15,000 metric tons and improve the capabilities to handle multiple commodities simultaneously,” says Marie Cartier, Port Milwaukee’s marketing development manager. “The facility is a real success story for the port with a major expansion just three years after its opening and a service that is attractive to shipping lines because vessels can immediately load this cargo after offloading imports.”
US Venture Inc. is using Port Milwaukee’s highly efficient liquid cargo pier to load and ship ethanol to the Port of Montreal for use by vehicles and rail services. “The company is also looking at expanding its facilities at the port,” Timm adds. “Wisconsin is a big ethanol producer with US Venture and other companies meeting the stricter requirements that Canada and Europe have for this fuel’s production.”
Tariffs have affected port volumes of steel and cement products. “Businesses want predictability which is hard to come by right now with all of the unknowns at the federal level,” Timm shares. “While the uncertainty in some cases has benefitted Port Milwaukee with some companies frontloading steel before the tariffs were in place, other businesses are down and the hesitancy to make longer term investments has led to a number of Milwaukee construction projects being halted or put on hold.”
Annual review of the free-trade agreement – if it is kept - is another impediment. “Canada is Wisconsin’s biggest trading partner so impediments to our trade are significant,” Timm notes. “The free-trade agreement was meant to be renewed every six years to give people some predictability in making investments and purchases.”
Ports of Indiana
At the Ports of Indiana, positive changes include a $100-million expansion in Portage to open the only sea cargo container terminal serving the Chicago market. “We haven’t had that kind of investment in the port since it opened in 1970,” Jody Peacock, Ports of Indiana Commission’s CEO, told a recent Innovate Northwest Indiana luncheon.
Peacock says the Ports of Indiana has just scratched the surface in terms of container potential. “For instance, we’ve determined that Ireland is the largest importer into Indiana – larger than Canada, which ranks second, and China which is third, combined – and yet none of that cargo from Ireland is arriving through our ports.”
With only 20% of its activities related to maritime cargo, the Ports of Indiana Commission has not been as affected by the market uncertainties caused by tariffs to the same extent as other port authorities. “However, we’re very sensitive to how these fluctuations in trade are affecting the 100 customers at our three ports and the impacts on their businesses, employees and their families,” Peacock adds.
“Diversification is essential to a successful future,” Peacock adds. “We’ve used our abilities to double our assets and port business over the past five years through public funding and public/private joint ventures through which we can expand quickly even though we’re not a big team.”
In early May, Ports of Indiana was awarded a $25-million federal “BUILD” grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation to support a $32-million expansion of its Jeffersonville port. The expansion will double the facility’s general cargo footprint and increase the port’s lift capacity from 35 to 300 tons.
Alongside these key investments, quick responses to customer needs and out-of-the-box thinking have been key strategies. A recent example is the new federally approved bonded storage facility at its Mount Vernon port to handle a rush aluminum shipment. “When our customer said the storage was needed within eight weeks, our first reaction was to say ‘impossible,’ but then we did it in six weeks,” Peacock recalls.
The joint venture that the Ports of Indiana struck with the general cargo stevedoring company Superior River Terminals-Indiana in October 2024 is another example. “We didn’t have an operator at our general cargo dock, so we took the risk off Superior River in forming the new Indiana River & Rail Terminals which allowed this business to really take off,” Peacock shares. “What started off with a single warehouse and crane two years ago now has seven buildings at two ports and is one of our largest revenue producers because of our creative thinking in terms of public/private business partnerships.”
In May the Ports of Indiana also celebrated the groundbreaking of Consolidated Grain and Barge Company’s $47-million expansion at Ports of Indiana-Mount Vernon. The project set to open in mid-2027 will triple CGB’s soybean processing operations from the current 50 million bushels yearly, as well as expand storage and truck unloading at the Ohio River facility. “One of our largest customers, CBG had reached a point where its management wasn’t considering future investments in our ports, but we worked through some issues to reinvigorate this partnership,” Peacock says.
It’s those kinds of conversations that have led to companies investing $127 million in 11 new port projects. They include the Louis Dreyfus Company spending $18 million to take over, revitalize and reopen a grain export terminal at Burns Harbor. Meanwhile, Voestalpine Roll Forming Corporation is spending $77.9 million on an expansion of its roll-foam metal facility in Jeffersonville to supply aerospace, construction and other industries.
“With our public funding and own investments to improve facilities, including the new four-lane highway bridge that will open this November to double ocean cargo capacity, we’re proving to customers that we’re committed to growing their business,” Peacock says.
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