The Port of Cleveland is a bulk freight and container shipping port at the mouth of the

Cuyahoga River The Cuyahoga River ( , or ) is a river located in Northeast Ohio that bisects the City of Cleveland and feeds into Lake Erie. As Cleveland emerged as a major manufacturing center, the river became heavily affected by industrial pollution, so m ...

Lake Erie Lake Erie ( "eerie") is the fourth largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also ha ...

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. It is the third-largest port in the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lakes ...

and the fourth-largest Great Lakes port by annual tonnage. Over 20,000 jobs and $3.5 billion in annual economic activity are tied to the roughly 13 million tons of cargo that move through Cleveland Harbor each year. The Port of Cleveland is the only container port on the

, with bi-weekly service between

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the United States, U.S. U.S. state, state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along ...

and

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

on a service called the Cleveland-Europe Express.

Cargo

The Port of Cleveland handles the bulk of raw material shipments for regional manufacturing, as well as exporting some local resources (salt mined from under

, materials quarried locally, Ohio farm surpluses).

Primary Cargoes

*Inbound: Steel, heavy machinery, iron ore, limestone, liquid/dry bulk *Outbound: Steel, iron ore, limestone, cement, salt, and machinery

Overall Annual Tonnage

*Generating $3.5 billion per year in trade. *Annual cargo handling averages between 11 million to 16 million tons *Dry Bulk (loose materials such as limestone and grain): 12 million tons *Break Bulk (packaged materials): 500,000 tons *about 1,000 vessel visits,

Connections

Rail

Connections to:
(2) Class I railroads: *

CSX Transportation CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of track. ...

Norfolk Southern Railway The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad in the United States formed in 1982 with the merger of Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. With headquarters in Atlanta, the company operates 19,420 route miles (31 ...

and several regional/ short-line railroads: * Cleveland Terminal and Valley Railway *

Cleveland Works Railway Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U. ...

Cuyahoga Valley Railway Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad is a Class III railroad operating diesel-electric and steam-powered excursion trips through Peninsula, Ohio in the Cuyahoga Valley, primarily through the scenic Cuyahoga Valley National Park. History Based on a t ...

* Flats Industrial Railroad * ISG Railways * Newburgh and South Shore Railroad * R.J. Corman Railroad/Cleveland Line * Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway

Truck

Port has truck access to four major Interstate highways: * I-71, South to: Strongsville,

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Penins ...

Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio Columbus may also refer to: Places ...

and

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line w ...

* I-77, South to: Akron,

Canton Canton may refer to: Administrative division terminology * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries, notably Switzerland * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and ente ...

, Richfield,

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

, Marietta;

Beckley, West Virginia Beckley is a city in and the county seat of Raleigh County, West Virginia, United States. It was founded on April 4, 1838. This city is the home of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology or West Virginia University, Beckley Campus. ...

and

Columbia, South Carolina Columbia is the capital of the U.S. state of South Carolina. With a population of 136,632 at the 2020 census, it is the second-largest city in South Carolina. The city serves as the county seat of Richland County, and a portion of the cit ...

* I-80/

Ohio Turnpike The Ohio Turnpike, officially the James W. Shocknessy Ohio Turnpike, is a limited-access toll highway in the U.S. state of Ohio, serving as a primary corridor between Chicago and Pittsburgh. The road runs east–west in the northern section of ...

, :*East to: Streetsboro, Youngstown; and

Pennsylvania Turnpike The Pennsylvania Turnpike (Penna Turnpike or PA Turnpike) is a toll highway operated by the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC) in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. A controlled-access highway, it runs for across the state. The turnpike's we ...

:*West to:

North Ridgeville North Ridgeville is a city located along the eastern border of Lorain County, Ohio. The city's population was 35,552 in 2020. North Ridgeville is the fastest-growing city in northern Ohio. It has been ranked the 13th safest city in the United St ...

, Lorain, Toledo; and Indiana Toll Road *

I-90 Interstate 90 (I-90) is an east–west transcontinental freeway and the longest Interstate Highway in the United States at . It begins in Seattle, Washington, and travels through the Pacific Northwest, Mountain West, Great Plains, Midwest, an ...

, :*East to:

Euclid, Ohio Euclid is a city in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States. It is an inner ring suburb of Cleveland. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 49,692. History The City of Euclid was originally a part of Euclid Township, first m ...

, Willoughby;

Erie, Pennsylvania Erie (; ) is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. Erie is the fifth largest city in Pennsylvania and the largest city in Northwestern Pennsylvania with a population of 94,831 ...

and

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...

:*West to: Westlake, Elyria, Toledo; and

South Bend, Indiana South Bend is a city in and the county seat of St. Joseph County, Indiana, on the St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total of 103,453 residents and is the fourt ...

as well as local bypasses/connectors: * I-271, I-480, and I-490; and Ohio State Routes, such as: *

Ohio State Route 2 State Route 2 (SR 2), formerly known as Inter-county Highway 2 until 1921 and State Highway 2 in 1922, is an east–west highway crossing most of northern Ohio. Its western terminus is at the Indiana state line near Hicksville where the rou ...

:*East to:

Euclid Euclid (; grc-gre, Εὐκλείδης; BC) was an ancient Greek mathematician active as a geometer and logician. Considered the "father of geometry", he is chiefly known for the '' Elements'' treatise, which established the foundations of ...

and

Painesville Painesville is a city in and the county seat of Lake County, Ohio, Lake County, Ohio, United States, located along the Grand River (Ohio), Grand River northeast of Cleveland. Its population was 19,563 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 cens ...

:*West to:

Rocky River Rocky River may refer to: Localities * Rocky River, Ohio, USA * Rocky River, New South Wales near Uralla, Australia Electorates *Electoral district of Rocky River (South Australia) Streams In Australia: * Rocky River (New South Wales) * ...

and Elyria

Facilities

Eight international cargo berths and docks consist of of land alongside

on the east side of the

, while the Cleveland Bulk Terminal transshipment facility occupies just west of the river.

Geography

The Port of Cleveland spans across the Cleveland Harbor on

and up the

to the turning basin.

Maritime

Docks are maintained at a full

seaway depth, which is .

Operators

Four terminal operators use port facilities: * Carmeuse NA * Essroc ( Italcementi) * Kenmore Construction * Federal Marine Terminals, Inc.

Cleveland Bulk Terminal

Cleveland Bulk Terminal (CBT), located at 5500 Whiskey Island Drive, on Whiskey Island, is port-owned but operated by Carmeuse NA which handles iron ore transfers. The lakefront facility can accommodate vessels used to discharge and reload rail cars. The automated CBT iron ore loader system on Whiskey Island on the west side of the

loads materials onto boats from the terminal and transfers materials at a rate of 5,200 tons per hour. Limited handling of materials greatly improves the quality of pellets delivered to the mill.
The ore loader operation benefits three

companies: * Cleveland-Cliffs—supplier of iron ore pellets * Mittal Steel Company—uses the pellets at its mills * Carmeuse NA—CBT operator and materials transporter

Terminals

These facilities are: *nine berths and docks in either open dock or two-berth facilities *capacity for lifting up to 150 net tons *direct rail access and warehousing ability *over of linear dock space, * of warehouse space and * of open storage for general cargo operations.

Foreign Trade Zones

Cuyahoga County Cuyahoga County ( or ) is a large urban county located in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Ohio. It is situated on the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S.-Canada maritime border. As of the 2020 census, its population was 1 ...

Port Authority, Grantee #40, operates-owns several ''General Purpose Zone''

Foreign Trade Zone A free-trade zone (FTZ) is a class of special economic zone. It is a geographic area where goods may be imported, stored, handled, manufactured, or reconfigured and re-exported under specific customs regulation and generally not subject to cust ...

s in

Ashtabula County Ashtabula County ( ) is the northeasternmost county in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 97,574. The county seat is Jefferson. The county was created in 1808 and later organized in 1811. The name Ashtabula der ...

and

Lorain County Lorain County is a county in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 312,964. Its county seat is Elyria. The county was physically established in 1822, becoming judicially independent in 182 ...

Port of Cleveland

Port of Cleveland complex located on

at the mouth of the

includes five general cargo facilities operated by port-approved stevedoring contractors.

Tow Path Valley Business Park

Tow Path Valley Business Park is located on both sides of the east and west bank of the

bordered by Jennings Road on the south, Upper Campbell Road on the east, I-490/I-77/Dille Road on the north and West 14th Street to the west.

Notes

References

Other sources

* * * * * {{Authority control Economy of Cleveland Geography of Cleveland

River ports of the United States Transportation in Cleveland Port authorities in the United States Foreign trade zones of the United States Lake Erie