Indiana port traffic up 19% in first half 2017

Shipments through the state’s three marine ports on the Ohio River and Lake Michigan reached nearly 5.7 million tons during the first half of the year, according to recent data from the Ports of Indiana.    Shipments through Indiana’s three marine ports on the Ohio River and Lake Michigan grew 19 percent during the first six months of 2017 compared to the same period last year, according to newly released data from the Ports of Indiana, marking the second highest volume during the first two quarters of any year in the organization’s history.
   Shipments through the state’s three ports – located in Burns Harbor, Jeffersonville and Mount Vernon – reached nearly 5.7 million tons, with the port authority primarily attributing the growth to increased shipments of coal, ethanol, fertilizer, minerals and steel.
   The Port of Indiana-Mount Vernon’s tonnages rose nearly 38 percent over 2016 figures to 3.4 million tons, according to Ports of Indiana data. During the first half of the year, coal shipments were up more than 76 percent while ethanol tonnages increased 39 percent, helped in part by Valero Renewable Fuels completing a multi-million dollar port project that improved plant efficiency.
   The port’s fertilizer shipments have more than doubled so far in 2017 due to strong demand during the spring planting season. Mineral shipments increased nearly 47 percent.
   The Port of Indiana-Jeffersonville handled nearly 1.2 million tons of cargo during the first six months of the year, and is currently on track for a fourth straight year of exceeding 2 million tons. Continued demand in the U.S. auto industry has helped keep steel shipments on pace with 2016, which finished with the second highest total in port history.
   The port has 27 companies on site that provide processing, handling and logistics services for a wide variety of industrial cargoes, including steel, aluminum, lubricants or plastic for the top six U.S. automakers. Shipments of oils were up nearly 26 percent and grain tonnages rose over six percent.
   The Port of Indiana-Burns Harbor handled over 1 million tons, according to the data, with increases in shipments of heavy-lift cargoes, steel, coal and oils.
   Ship traffic through the port was up 14 percent over the same period last year, and carried several large-dimensional cargoes, including wind tower sections from Spain and Brazil as well as the world’s largest liquid argon particle hunter, a device the size of two semi-trucks that’s used by particle physicists to study neutrinos, which are subatomic atoms that are smaller than any other known particle.
   Stevedoring company Metro Ports became the bulk terminal operator for the Ports of Indiana’s Burns Harbor operation on July 1.