Rotterdam-based agribusiness Louis Dreyfus Company (LDC) has been chosen by Ports of Indiana to operate the grain export terminal at Burns Harbor, located on the southern shore of Lake Michigan.
Under the agreement, LDC will reopen the idled terminal in early 2026. Originally built by Cargill in 1979, the facility was shut down in 2023 due to unfavorable market conditions.
“Burns Harbor is well-positioned at the southern shore of Lake Michigan, with access to multiple regional grain markets. The port will be a strategic asset for LDC to expand market access for regional farmers and serve customers in North America and abroad,” said Gordon Russell, LDC’s US head of grains and oilseeds.
Northern Indiana boasts the largest US port with access to the Great Lakes, St. Lawrence Seaway and US Inland River System, and it also provides multimodal connections to 16 railroads in the Greater Chicago market. The port’s grain operation includes storage capacity for 7.2m bushels of grain, 200 railcars and 20 barges.
The terminal has previously enabled the export of over 500m bushels of corn and soybeans.
“Combining LDC’s extensive resources with one of the most robust grain export facilities on the Great Lakes provides critical access to global markets for regional farmers. This is one of only a few places in the Midwest where you can load 1m bushels of corn onto an ocean vessel for export while simultaneously unloading an 85-car unit train and hundreds of semi-trucks from local farmers,” added Ports of Indiana CEO Jody Peacock.
