Connecting Lake Erie to the Global Economy

Yesterday, the Cleveland Plain Dealer released a thoughtful op-ed discussing the merits of Cleveland connecting its port with Montreal. The Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority has struggled for years to develop a comprehensive vision. Developing a strategic partnership with Montreal is a step in the right direction for opening up our ports to the global economy.


Montreal link with Cleveland port is worth a look: editorial
By: Plain Dealer Editorial Board


They're back. But this time the Cleveland- Cuyahoga County Port Authority is developing a strategy for container traffic within the Great Lakes that could actually hold water -- and make Cleveland a leading innovator for a new form of lakes shipping.

Former ports CEO Adam Wasserman first flagged the idea of expanding the Cleveland port to handle containers that also ship by truck and rail. But Wasserman never moved beyond pie-in-the-sky schemes.

Since taking over after Wasserman's ouster, current port President Will Friedman has been busily establishing the contacts and key planning elements needed to create the first international container service on the Great Lakes. Among them:

• The definition of a route between Montreal and Cleveland. Great Lakes Feeder Lines, a joint American-Canadian company, would provide a vessel to shuttle containers back and forth.

• A demonstration that Cleveland's current docks could handle container cargo without added taxpayer investments. Last month, one of Great Lakes Feeder Lines' vessels was in town to demonstrate how containers could be loaded and unloaded here. Cleveland has the necessary longshoremen, a terminal operator with the needed equipment and the road and rail connections to move goods throughout Northeast Ohio.

• A realistic sense of scale. Cleveland is not going to compete with the Port of New York and New Jersey, which handles more than 5 million containers a year. Friedman figures the feeder line would handle 16,000 containers a year, linking with ocean-going vessels plying trans-Atlantic routes. "We're trying to provide a niche service for Northeast Ohio," he said.

Initial response from Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 companies in the region has been good, according to David Gutheil, who was hired last month as vice president of maritime and logistics for the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority.

For taxpayers, the good news is that, unlike Wasserman's approach to international shipping, Friedman's envisions no public subsidy. But it's not all likely to be smooth sailing. 

Transit time and cost must be competitive enough to give ocean shippers a reason to change to a new mode of transportation.  And let's not forget Mother Nature. The St. Laurence Seaway and the Great Lakes freeze between mid-December and mid-February 

Still, the idea of a contained container service between Montreal and Cleveland merits further study. As cargo tonnage on the Great Lakes drops, it is crucial that the port embrace innovative ways of selling its services. And container traffic could help buoy it up.