According to an announcement this week, signalled shipments utilizing the Ports of Indiana are up 19 percent over 2016.
In total, the first six months of 2017 have seen shipments reach nearly 5.7 million tons, marking the second highest volume for the first two quarters in the ports’ history. Coal, ethanol, fertilizer, minerals and steel shipments are all up, which have contributed significantly to the boom.
Taking it down to the individual level, the Port of Indiana-Mount Vernon has seen the largest shipments so far this year. That port has already processed 3.4 million tons of cargo, with influxes up across the board. Ethanol tonnages, coal shipments, fertilizer and mineral shipments were all in heavy demand and the port noted that its efforts were aided by Valero Renewable Fuels completing a port project aimed at improved plant efficiency.
Further, the Port of Indiana-Jeffersonville handled about 1.2 million tons, largely in steel, oils and grain. In fact, the site is on pace to match 2016 for steel shipments, which had marked the second highest total in the port’s history. Last, however, the Port of Indiana-Burns Harbor handled over one million tons of cargo. Of note was their processing of the world’s largest liquid argon particle hunter, ICARUS, which had its wind tower come through in parts on its way to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois.