By PAULENE POPARAD

“Now let’s get this dock open,” urged Indiana Gov. Frank O’Bannon as he signaled a 1954 converted Air Force diesel engine to advance and break a ceremonial ribbon Tuesday opening a $5 million dock at the Burns Harbor Port of Indiana in Portage.

The event also marked the announcement of Steve Mosher, who formerly operated a maritime facility near Corpus Christi, TX, as Burns Harbor’s fifth Port director succeeding Peter McCarthy, who retired.

Said Mosher, 39, “I’m just getting my feet on the ground, finding out what the needs are first and introducing myself to the tenants and employees.”

The ceremonies included Pacesetter award presentations by Albert S. Jacquez, administrator of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corp., to the Burns Harbor Port and its general cargo stevedore since 1999, Federal Marine Terminals, for growth in 2001 international tonnage over the previous year.

Indiana also operates two ports serving barge traffic at Mt. Vernon and Jeffersonville on the Ohio River.

According to O’Bannon, who’s struggling to steer the state through one of its worst fiscal crises, Indiana’s ports generate more than $1.4 billion in economic impact and provide more than 10,000 jobs. “That’s a big contribution to the state’s bottom line, but the Port does not accept that as good enough and these leaders are working to improve an already impressive record.”

The governor said one tool will be recent tax restructuring enacted by the Indiana General Assembly that directly will affect Port tenants by cutting property taxes, phasing out the inventory tax and repealing the corporate gross income tax.

“Updating our tax code to make Indiana the premiere place to do business will do even more for the companies here today and those who will be here in the future,” O’Bannon added.

Jacquez said Burns Harbor’s recognition comes at a time when overall tonnage on the Great Lakes/St. Lawrence Seaway system is down 13 percent yet the local deepwater port increased its international tonnage by 12 percent and earned its fifth Pacesetter award in a decade; it was Federal Marine’s third.

Jacquez said, “With the economy getting sluggish, international competition getting fiercer, it’s not as easy as it may seem” to increase tonnage handled. Out of a dozen U.S. Great Lakes ports and terminals, only four ports and two terminals showed an increase last year.

Added Jacquez, “I visit a lot of ports both here and in Canada and I can’t remember when I visited a port that had three ships in and as many workers on the dock as are working today.” Large cranes were loading/unloading docked vessels as tugs moved the massive Federal EMS Limassol into position.

The new dock, built on undeveloped land and financed with a 1997 appropriation from the state’s General Assembly, will allow an additional 1,000-foot ship to tie on and is expected to handle about 200,000 tons of cargo each year. Burns Harbor has 13 working docks, 10 for ocean-going ships and three for barge berths.

Jacquez said Burns Harbor, which he termed the premiere nerve center for steel on the Great Lakes, increased its steel products handled last year with steel and iron shipments creating greater job impacts per each 1,000 tons than do almost any other cargo.

According to O’Bannon, “As a governor I can’t ask for more than FMT and the Port are doing. Getting the award is just icing on the cake.”

He stressed that shipping along Indiana’s 400 miles of waterway borders is part of the state’s economic recovery plan. “It is critical we continue to invest in the Ports to make them the best facilities they can be.”

Ports of Indiana chief operating officer Rich Cooper said only 14 acres is left for Burns Harbor to develop. “Our primary focus will be maintaining and growing the business we have here, working closely to identify where those potential opportunities might be.” Expanding the Port’s activities off-site also is being explored, he confirmed.

“That’s something we’re going to take a hard look at in the future, to see if there is a role the Port can play,” Cooper added. “We’ve had such success we’re looking to see if we can expand that outside our own boundaries and perhaps spur some economic development.”

Jacquez said the Port’s aggressive marketing has paid off. A $2 million expansion of Burns Harbor’s mineral processing facility has the potential to increase limestone shipments by one-half million tons. “That would mean 22 more ship calls a year, more work for the longshoremen, more pay, more taxes and I’ll probably be here next year for another Pacesetter award.”

Indiana Port Commission Chairman Ken Massengill told approximately 100 dignitaries and guests that none of the successes would be made possible without the contribution of the members of the International Longshoreman’s Association.

Overall, Burns Harbor ships more than 2 million tons of cargo in and out of the state every year including steel, limestone, grain, coal, fertilizer and liquid products.

According to William Friedman, executive director of the Ports of Indiana, “When the St. Lawrence Seaway was built, this is exactly what those people with a lot of foresight had in mind: to bring global commerce into America’s heartland.”

Posted 8/29/2002