It was a record year in 2022 for the Port of Oswego Authority.
Shipping alone was up more than 300% compared to 2021, said William Scriber, executive director.
Recently, the port received the U.S. Department of Transportation designation as a USDOT Marine Highway, one of only 32 in the United States.
The port generated more than $2.8 million directly paid in wages and benefits to local labor.
It received the prestigious Great Lakes/St. Lawrence Seaway Pacesetter Award which recognizes U.S. Great Lakes ports for major increases in cargo shipping —for the third time in the past four years.
“We receive no state budget and no local tax revenue. We operate as a business and that means we contribute to the local economy,” Scriber said.
The port invested in both upgrading and expanding its capabilities in 2022.
Its $15 million Regional Agricultural Export Center expansion project provides CNY access to the world, Scriber said.
In 2022, the port was the first to ship grain out of the St. Lawrence Seaway and is New York’s only grain exporter by water on Lake Ontario. Grain shipments went to the Middle East and Europe and helped offset the disruption in the global supply chain by the war in Ukraine.
The port handled more than 300 wind turbine tower sections, blades and other components in 2022.
Scriber said, “We are the second largest importer of prime aluminum on the Great Lakes. In 2022, we received multiple shipments of aluminum slabs. Each slab weighs more than 26 tons and we handled close to 500 of them.”
In 2022, a historic agreement was signed between the port and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to deepen the port’s harbor, expand its capabilities to ignite new growth, and be accessible to Seawaymax container ships—the largest traveling the Great Lakes, Scriber said.
Top image: Ship coming into port passes the West Pierhead Lighthouse with wind turbine blades.
