The Port of Indiana-Burns Harbor celebrated its 35th year of international shipping today as workers loaded an export ship of Indiana steel bound for Bangladesh. The “Spar Garnet” arrived at the port on Tuesday and is being loaded with 15,000 metric tons of steel coils from Mittal Steel.

“For years Burns Harbor has provided a gateway for distribution of Indiana’s products worldwide,” said Patricia R. Miller, Indiana secretary of commerce and chief executive officer of the Indiana Economic Development Corp. “The on-going collaboration between Indiana’s ports and companies such as Mittal Steel further demonstrates the importance partnerships play in better positioning our state as a leader in manufacturing and logistics distribution.”

More than 150 public and private officials participated in a special ceremony at the port this afternoon.

“This is a great day for the port and our partners in the steel industry,” said Port Director Steve Mosher. “This is a good sign that Indiana steel is competitive in the global marketplace. This port has a long and very successful history of helping Indiana do business with the world. We have a strong team in place that is focused on working with industries to grow their businesses and make Indiana a leader in transportation, distribution and logistics. The last 35 years have been great, but bigger things are yet to come.”

Mittal Steel recently became the world’s largest steel manufacturer when it consolidated several regional mills including ISG Burns Harbor, ISG East Chicago and ISPAT in Northwest Indiana, as well as Riverdale and Hennepin in Illinois. John Mang, vice president for the western region of Mittal Steel USA, participated in today’s event and spoke about the local and national outlook for the steel industry.

“The Mittal Steel USA organization congratulates the Port of Indiana-Burns Harbor on reaching the 35th year of operation milestone,” Mang said. “As the steel industry has expanded its boundaries over the past several years to truly become a global industry, it is important that we have world competitive facilities to ship our Northwest Indiana produced products to other parts of the world. The Port of Indiana-Burns Harbor is our partner in reaching out to the rest of the world.”

Other participants in the day’s festivities included Glen Dawson, the tugboat pilot that towed the first ship into port in 1970; Ralph Joseph, former port director, executive director and first full-time employee of the port; and representatives of the International Longshoremen’s Assoc.-Local 1969. Portage Mayor Doug Olson also shared his early memories of the port, which includes riding on the Coast Guard cutter and attending the port’s opening ceremonies with his father, who was mayor of Portage at the time.

The first ship to visit the port in 1970 also carried an export shipment of Indiana steel, which headed for Japan. Since 1970, 3,254 ships have docked at the port carrying 35 million tons of cargo to and from Indiana. The port has also loaded and unloaded 11,400 barges, bringing the port’s waterborne shipping total to more than 53 million tons. The Ports of Indiana is a quasi-state enterprise that operates a system of three ports, foreign-trade zones and development financing programs. Information: www.portsofindiana.com.

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