The Isadora arrived from the Netherlands, ushering in the shipping season for 2023 at the Lake Michigan port in Burns Harbor. Staff photo by Joseph S. Pete
The first ocean vessel of the 2023 international shipping season came from the Netherlands to the Port of Indiana-Burns Harbor.
The deepwater Lake Michigan port in Portage and Burns Harbor presented the ceremonial steel stein honoring the first ship to Captain Piotr Szczesniak. He guided Polsteam’s Isadora bulk carrier from Ijmuiden, Netherlands across the Atlantic Ocean, through the St. Lawrence Seaway in Canada and into the Great Lakes.
The Port of Indiana traditionally gives the captain of the first vessel a steel stein that symbolizes the Region's role as the Steel Capital of North America and the port's place as one of the top in the country for steel cargos.
“We look forward to the first ocean vessel in Burns Harbor every year as a sign that spring is coming and our port's international connection to the world is now open,” Port Director Ryan McCoy said. “Our unique deepwater terminal has tremendous capabilities for shipping everything from grain to steel to salt to wind component cargoes on ocean vessels to and from the Heartland of America and global markets.”
The Cyprus-flagged laker, which was built in 1999, picked up steel cargo in the Netherlands and then stopped in Cleveland before voyaging for two additional weeks to Northwest Indiana. It traveled from Lake Erie, past Detroit into Lake Huron and then down Lake Michigan, which stretches 300 miles north to south.
Dock workers from the International Longshoremen's Association and the International Union of Operating Engineers will unload the ship's cargo of more than 8,350 tons of steel coil at the port of Indiana-Burns Harbor.
Then the ocean-faring vessel, which is owned by Polsteam and staffed by 21 sailors, will head to the Port of Milwaukee to drop off the last of its cargo.
About 75 to 90 ocean-going vessels from all over the globe went to the Port of Indiana-Burns Harbor last year. It handled 3.45 million tons of cargo last year, the most since it opened in 1970.
It also handles river barges, lake vessels, trains and trucks, also sending cargo down to the Gulf of Mexico.
It brings in the hulking international ships when the Great Lakes thaw and the St. Lawrence Seaway reopens its locks in the spring, allowing international trade to resume. Ships bring wind turbines, beer tanks and countless other products, and typically ship grain from Indiana to international markets.
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