Burns Harbor port welcomes first international vessel
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The Ports of Indiana-Burns Harbor celebrated the opening of the 2024 international shipping season by welcoming the arrival of its first ocean vessel of the year.
The M.V. Jamno, a bulk carrier arrived at the northwest Indiana port on Friday after sailing from the Netherlands on March 21.
To mark the occasion, Port Director Ryan McCoy presented the “Steel Stein” to Captain Dariusz Buczek. The stein commemorates northwest Indiana’s identity as “The Steel Capital of North America,” the port authority said.
“We look forward to the first ocean vessel in Burns Harbor as a sign that spring is upon us and our port’s international connection to the world is now open,” McCoy said in a news release. “The arrival of ocean vessels creates jobs for our dockworkers and crane operators, and access to world markets for Indiana businesses.”
Buczek told our partners at The Times of Northwest Indiana that the journey from Europe took about three weeks.
“It was not too bad but the weather on the ocean was very, very bad with 30-meter waves,” he said. “There was a storm at the time. We stayed for three days in one place. This time of year, the spring time, is very bad for travel, for crossing the Atlantic. But we are here without damage. We have to be very careful crossing the Atlantic with these conditions because it’s very difficult. Very difficult.”
The vessel, built in 2018, delivered more than 6,200 tons of specialized steel products that will be used by local manufacturers. The vessel will next travel to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, according to the publication.
The crew expects to make a second trip to the U.S. with a likely stop at Burns Harbor later this year.
Indiana’s three ports—Burns Harbor, Jeffersonville and Mount Vernon—handled 12.6 million tons of cargo in 2023, up 6% from the previous year. In Burns Harbor more than 50% of the cargo that travels through is steel-related.
“Our cargo’s pretty consistent,” McCoy told The Times. “That’s why you see our tonnage is consistent throughout the year. We do have rail and barge bringing cargo throughout the year. But import and export are the core of what we do here. It’s the core of what the port was built to do.”
A study released in September found that the ports support more than 49,000 jobs and generate $8.7 billion in economic impact for the state.