Ports Of Indiana Earns Marine Highway Designation

The Ports of Indiana has received recognition from Secretary of Transportation Elaine L. Chao for its leadership role in the development and advancement of the Marine Highway M-35/M-70 container-on-barge service on the Ohio and Upper Mississippi rivers.

This project is being developed by members of Inland Rivers, Ports & Terminals Association (IRPT) and  the Port of Indiana-Mount Vernon.

This project will support a waterway transportation network on the river system that will have the capability to deliver vital goods between three major gateway ports—Mount Vernon; Pittsburgh, Pa.; and St. Paul, Minn.—and establish new trade networks with significant public benefits, creating a foundation for future trade growth.

“Development of this new project involves several IRPT members working collaboratively to address the challenges industries face with the logistics of moving freight,” said Mount Vernon Port Director Phil Wilzbacher. “As the volume of freight continues to grow, this project will reduce carbon emissions and highway maintenance, lower transportation costs and provide economic opportunities in the region. We fully anticipate that the service will offer shippers transportation alternatives by utilizing our Marine Highway network.”

“IRPT is proud of our members and other industry professionals seeking innovative transportation opportunities such as container-on-barge shipping in order to alleviate congestion on surface transportation and provide an alternative to current rail supply chain routes,” said Aimee Andres, executive director of IRPT.

“Using container-on-barge offers not only benefits to individual shippers by way of comparable pricing and modal competition, the service offers many benefits to the nation, such as savings from surface transportation improvements and most importantly, it fulfills the nation’s increased freight needs with little impact to communities,” said Andres.