The Port of Toledo sails out of 2024 in ship shape

TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) - Hundreds of freighters call on the port of Toledo every year. And that helps create thousands of jobs and generate hundreds of millions in economic impact for our region. So how did 2024 stack up?

Ships carry millions of tons of cargo in and out of Toledo every year. Everything from grain to iron ore. When you see a freighter docked in Toledo, it might be surprising to learn just how critical the shipping industry is to our local economy.

“It was very good year for the seaport. We had another year over our 11 million tons of cargo benchmark which is a signal of on-going success. We had a wide diversity of cargo coming in an out in 2024. The Port of Toledo really punches above our weight class a bit. We are one of the largest U.S. ports on the Great Lakes in terms of tonnage and in terms of land we may be the largest U.S. seaport on the Great Lakes system,” Joe Cappel, the vice president of business development for the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority said.

And The Port of Toledo’s reach expands far beyond the city. It pays dividends for the entire region.

“In terms of economic impact of our seaport on jobs, it supports about 8,000 jobs and has a $900 million dollar annual economic impact. It is an enormous economic driver in Northwest Ohio,” Cappel said. “Every year, over 500 lake-trading vessels and barges come to the Port of Toledo. Those are ships that stay within and trade within the Great Lakes system. We also had more than 30 international, or salt water vessels come into the port as well.”

Cargo coming in and out of Toledo includes things like corn, wheat and soybeans as well as salt, coal and iron ore. And 2024 was a record year for aluminum.

“Aluminum is stored at the terminal and traded. Then it’s shipped to manufacturers that make things like engine blocks, appliances and really anything made from aluminum. Toledo is part of a much larger global supply chain,” Cappel said.

Port leaders are always focused on navigating changing markets by adding new commodities.

“Such as distillers dry grain which is the bi-product of ethanol and bio-diesel manufacturing,” Cappel said.

And the focus is always on the future and that means ongoing investment. Cappel said about $30 million was recently spent to reconstruct the mile-long dock wall at the general cargo dock.

“When one commodity is down , usually another is up and a new opportunity presents itself. We work hard to build facilities that give us the most flexibility when it comes to the type of cargo we can store and load on and off from vessels,” Cappel said.

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