Commercial Ports
No other state offers the variety of shipping opportunity available in Michigan. Major ports in Detroit, Saginaw and the Upper Peninsula provide full service, including U.S. Customs services, for all types of shipping.
The Great Lakes are an independent shipping system, with the Soo Locks and the St. Lawrence Seaway providing a navigational connection to the Atlantic Ocean and European markets. Ports on Michigan's west coast have access to the Mississippi River barge system connecting to the river valley and the Gulf of Mexico.
Michigan has 38 deepwater ports, more than some coastal states. They give shippers direct connections to the entire Great Lakes shipping system, the Gulf of Mexico and Mississippi River barge system and, via the St. Lawrence Seaway, the Atlantic Ocean.
Table 4
Great Lakes System
The largest body of fresh water in the world, the Great Lakes provide transportation for an average of 168 million tons of freight per year. Great Lakes freighters, larger than typical ocean-going vessels, are specially designed to carry large, heavy loads in the deep waters of the lakes.
The Great Lakes, their connecting channels, and the St. Lawrence Seaway form a 2,000-mile waterway coursing from the heart of North America to the Atlantic.
St. Lawrence Seaway
The Seaway provides access from the Atlantic to the Midwest and the Great Lakes. The seven Seaway locks are located between Montreal and Lake Ontario. The locks allow passage of vessels 740 feet long (225.5 m.), 78 feet wide (23.7 m.), and with a draft of 26.25 feet (8 m.).
The St. Lawrence Seaway provides a shipping route between Detroit and most northern European ports that is shorter than the route between East Coast cities and the same European ports.
Soo Locks
At Sault Ste. Marie (the Soo), water drops 22 feet from Lake Superior to the lower lakes. Locks provide access from one waterway to the other, allowing shipping throughout the Great Lakes. These locks made possible the growth of the U.S. steel industry by providing access to the vast iron ore deposits in northern Michigan.
The Soo Locks can accommodate vessels up to 1,100 feet (335 m.) long and 105 feet (32 m.) wide.
Mississippi River Barge Traffic
Michigan ports joined the Mississippi River barge system in 1995, linking the entire Great Lakes system with the Mississippi and the Gulf of Mexico. The U.S. Coast Guard has approved St. Joseph/Benton Harbor for inclusion in the barge system, with approval pending for other Lake Michigan ports as far north as Muskegon.
Click on the attachment icon below to view the pdf file.
Attachments:
| |  Commercial Ports
| PDF file, 1 page, 144 KB |