Indiana establishes Great Lakes shipping partnership with Quebec

The state of Indiana and the province of Quebec will establish a partnership through which they will launch an initiative to study opportunities to strengthen short-sea shipping in the area via greater regional collaboration.    The state of Indiana and the province of Quebec will establish a partnership through which they will launch an initiative to study opportunities that will strengthen short-sea shipping between the two jurisdictions.
   Quebec and Indiana, which identified short-sea shipping as a component of regional economic development, believe short-sea shipping would benefit from greater regional collaboration and are inviting other partners from the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence economic region to join their partnership.
   “Areas of collaboration could include industry workshops; exchange of best practices; applied research based on the needs of the shipping industry; as well as joint studies involving collaboration between industry, government and academic institutions,” the Ports of Indiana said in a statement.
   Recent studies have shown that maritime transportation accounts for $34 billion in annual economic returns for the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence region and over 225,000 jobs, according to the Ports of Indiana.
   Indiana handles nearly 30 million tons of cargo each year on short-sea shipping movements across the Great Lakes, which primarily consists of iron ore for the steel mills in Northwest Indiana.
   The Port of Indiana-Burns Harbor, situated 18 nautical miles south east of Chicago, Ill. on the south shore of Lake Michigan, shares a strong partnership with the Quebec-based Great Lakes shipping line Fednav Limited, which provides regular ocean service to the port. In addition, Fednav is the parent company for Federal Marine Terminals, the port’s general cargo terminal operator.
   “The province of Quebec and the state of Indiana are connected by more than just water,” Indiana Lieutenant Governor Sue Ellspermann said in a statement. “We share strong manufacturing sectors, robust multimodal transportation systems and a heavy reliance on Great Lakes shipping.”