The Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority anticipates a $43 million investment in waterway improvements between 2016 and 2020. The Port Authority will invest $11.4 million in 2018, with most going to rehabilitate its Cleveland Bulk Terminal, a transshipment site for iron ore, which totaled 3.004 million net tons for 2017 according to the Lake Carriers Association, and other bulk material.
To finance the investments, in addition to a $11.5 million federal grant for reinforcing the Irishtown Bend in Ohio City, the city, state and sewer district are close to matching with a $11.5 million regional grant, and the Port Authority approved a 0.13-mill operative levy to raise $3.1 million annually.
While the Port Authority is investing, William Friedman, the port’s CEO noted that he is wary of potential steel tariffs. In 2017, 464,000 tons of cargo moved across Port of Cleveland, up 19 percent from 375,840 tons of cargo in 2016. Of the 2017 tonnage, 90 percent was shipments of steel.
The Port Authority struck a three-year deal for regular Cleveland-Europe service with the Spliethoff Group, an Amsterdam-based shipper. Many shipments consist of commodity steel coils or plates from European steel plants used as feedstock for local Great Lakes manufacturers. The service has grown from once a month to up to four shipments monthly to the Port of Cleveland. While initially subsidized, present negotiations are working on reducing the agency’s overall cost to also promote exports and draw away business from the highly competitive coastal port shipments that are moved by truck to the region.