Business View - October 2015 51
ture created the Indiana Ports Commission (known today
as the Ports of Indiana), a governor-appointed, biparti-
san, quasi-state enterprise. To Governor Matthew Welsh,
the issue was clear-cut - he believed that a Lake Michi-
gan port was essential for the state. And in Washington,
D.C., Congress passed the Rivers and Harbors Appropria-
tions Act of 1965, which helped underwrite the cost of
port construction.
Today, the Ports of Indiana operates three public ports:
the Port of Indiana – Burns Harbor, the Port of Indiana –
Mount Vernon, and the Port of Indiana – Jeffersonville.
“The State of Indiana has one of the most unique port
systems, anywhere in the country,” says Peacock. “They
are located on two different waterways that provide us
with access to two separate coasts. We have one port
on Lake Michigan which gives us direct ocean access
through the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway to the
Atlantic Ocean, and we have two ports on the Ohio River
which connect from the Ohio River to the Mississippi,
down to the Gulf of Mexico. So all three of our ports con-
nect to the inland river system (Ohio, Illinois, and Missis-
sippi) and provide year-round shipping and transfer with
ocean vessels.”
Port of Indiana - Burns Harbor was the first port built. It
opened in 1970, in Portage, Indiana, on the southern tip
AT A GLANCE
WHO:
The Ports of Indiana
WHAT:
Operator of three maritime ports in Indiana
on Lake Michigan and the Ohio River
WHERE:
Central office in Indianapolis, Indiana
WEBSITE
:
LOGISTICS
