How Great Lakes Ports are Transforming Local Economies

MONROE, MI – When an engine runs quietly, it doesn’t attract much attention. The same goes for economic engines. Take Great Lakes and inland river ports across the United States. They do not draw much national attention, but there is much happening. In fact, Great Lakes and river ports are leveraging their collective essentiality to craft new strategies and build new infrastructure.

There are roughly 12,000 ports, private terminals and other navigation facilities nationwide, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and possibly many more. Aimee Andres, executive director of the Inland Rivers, Ports and Terminals, Inc. trade group, says there are 93 inland river ports, and 71 Great Lakes ports; although there is no official tally, the number of private terminals in the U.S. “is in the tens of thousands,” Andres says. The American Society of Civil Engineers has called those ports the “hidden backbone of the nation’s freight network.” For example, American Great Lakes ports handle about 140 million tons annually, directly or indirectly supporting about 147,350 jobs. Inland river ports and transportation services employ about 127,500 workers and generate $36 billion in income annually while handling about 500 million tons of cargo, according to a recent study.

“When most people think about maritime, they think about the seaports, but cargo does not stop at those ports of import, and it certainly doesn’t begin at the ports of exports,” Andres says, pointing out that inland ports as well as private terminals are crucial.

There’s room for growth, however, and various Great Lakes and river ports are implementing projects supported by the federal government and others. The highlights, among many others, include a $774- million U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) grant award announced in April 2026, which is funding infrastructure improvements at Baton Rouge, Memphis, and Duluth-Superior, Minnesota, and elsewhere.

Also, industry groups are exploring new ways to increase cargo moving between the Great Lakes and inland rivers. And there is accelerating development of dry ports, meaning inland logistics facilities accessed by rail and trucks and linked to maritime ports, such as those in Greer and Dillon, both in South Carolina, and which are connected directly to the Port of Charleston. Wet or dry, there is much happening.

The Port of Monroe, Michigan, an intermodal port on Lake Erie, is one of the standouts.The port, which already generates roughly $121 million in local income and spending and $38.5 million in federal, state and local tax revenues, is actively creating new opportunities. The port has been implementing a number of projects fueled by federal, state, county and city funding.

Port Director Paul LaMarre, citing the growth in facilities and cargo, says such progress at Monroe makes it “the biggest little port on the Great Lakes, or the little port that can.”

Right now, the port is turning a 12-acre site into the first international border entry point container terminal on the Great Lakes. The terminal, slated to open by 2027, is designed to provide a new gateway to international markets through the St. Lawrence Seaway. The port’s initiatives were boosted by a $15- million U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) grant announced in April 2026 by U.S. Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI), who advocated for the grant award. The award follows on the heels of another DOT grant for $11 million that Monroe’s port received in 2022. Peters says the grant will help “position the port at the cutting edge of Great Lakes shipping. These investments will help strengthen our supply chains, support good-paying jobs and create more economic opportunity for communities across our state.”

Monroe Mayor Robert Clark characterizes the changes at the port in recent years as “a complete transformation” that is bringing “economic and community benefits to the city of Monroe and this region.” The benefits include about 850 local residents, or 75% of the 1,136 people, employed by companies operating on the port, including Gerdau, DTE and Ventower Industries, says LaMarre.

As LaMarre says, “The ultimate success story is when you have created investment, job and tax revenue for the local community.” He adds that “investing in port infrastructure and in the people who support it will pay exponential dividends for communities and for national strength and economic sustainability.”

USA Today