Whether it was thousands of tons of aluminum ingots, grain or a giant transformer, the Port of Oswego Authority handled them all, had another record year in 2023, and is poised to exceed that performance in 2024, said William Scriber, executive director.
“Our performance in 2023 continued building on the momentum of our past half-decade of progress,” Scriber said. “In December, we had an intake of more than 74,000 tons of aluminum (more than 100,000 aluminum ingots) which is a 243% increase during the same time since 2018.
“In addition, we moved more than 11,000 tons of specialty freight in 2023. These included components for a new lithium battery recycling facility in Rochester, a Novelis production line update and a transformer for a local nuclear power plant.”
The list of these and other 2023 port highlights are in its annual report, “The Port of Oswego: Great Lakes Commerce Leader,” available to for download on the port’s website, portoswego.com
Francis Enwright, chair of the POA board said: “With the advent of new potential customers like Micron, the port is perfectly positioned to assist them with the import of major components for construction of their semiconductor manufacturing facility in Clay —which plans to break ground this year —with our abundant warehouse space, yard laydown space and growing rail capacity. In addition, the formation of our historic Oswego City-Port Advisory committee has ushered in a new era of collaboration and communication between the city of Oswego and the port as we move into another bustling year of activity and growth.”
Among other highlights in the report are securing its first Foreign Trade Zone customer; the new, $2.1 million Goble deep-water marina that will open for the 2024 season and the $35 million breakwall repair project to repair the entire harbor breakwall and repair the foundation of Oswego’s iconic West Pierhead Lighthouse. In addition, the port was awarded $5 million in grants to purchase a new ship loading system ($2 million) and make major upgrades to its rail service at its Fitzgibbons Intermodal Terminal ($3 million). Construction of a fifth storage track will make the port the largest operating rail yard in Oswego County, Scriber said.
Also in 2023, the port was named a 2023 CenterState Economic Champion for its contributions to economic development in Central New York and for the fourth time in the past five years, the port received the Robert J. Lewis Pacesetter Award for increases in international cargo tonnage shipped through the port in 2022.
The port was also recognized in 2023 by a U.S. Canadian research study showing that, over the past five years, the Port of Oswego Authority made a $513 million impact on the local and regional economy and supported 2, 229 jobs by its maritime activity. During this time, the port generated $201.2 million in wages, salaries and local consumption expenditures for the regional economy.
