Paul Martin and Bob Stevens didn't need to visit Toledo to hear about its proximity - within a day's truck drive - to a huge portion of North American industry and consumers.
They already had been briefed about the city's transportation assets. What impressed the president and chief executive officer of Melford International Terminal Inc. most during their day-plus visit that ended yesterday was the extent of waterfront land where local officials aim to develop a feeder terminal for their proposed project in Nova Scotia.
"The amount of available space that's ready to roll, ready to put to work tomorrow" is what stands out, Mr. Stevens said as he prepared to board a flight home after meeting with local officials and touring Toledo's port.
The former Gulf Oil refinery site in East Toledo that the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority owns should be "more than adequate" for redevelopment as the sort of feeder port Melford planners envision as a Great Lakes distribution point for containerized freight they hope to woo to their eastern Canada site, Mr. Martin said.
The port authority bought the refinery site from Chevron Corp. on May 19 for $3.4 million, and refers to it as the Ironville Dock.
Mr. Martin said he got an "extremely favorable impression" of Toledo and its interest in developing its transportation potential. "The enthusiasm for a collaborative effort is very strong," he said.Hoping to capitalize on shifting world trade patterns, ever-larger ships, and congestion at existing Atlantic ports and on the highways and railways leading to them, Melford planners envision a 315-acre port on the Strait of Canso that would be deep enough to accommodate the largest container vessels now being designed.
They plan an initial capacity of 1.5 million TEUs - an industry measurement of container capacity - when they start operating in two to three years.
And while they expect most of that freight to make the inland portion of its journey by train, Mr. Martin and Mr. Stevens believe some containers could be forwarded on smaller ships through the St. Lawrence Seaway to and from Great Lakes ports like Toledo - perhaps, especially Toledo.
While there is potential for container business at many Great Lakes ports, "there are ports in the system that are more strategic, and Toledo is one of those ports," Mr. Martin said during a news conference Tuesday afternoon during the Melford pair's visit.
Alex Johnson, president of Midwest Terminals of Toledo International, to which the port authority has leased the Ironville Dock, said he is prepared to install "state-of-the-art equipment" there and believes the site could handle 300,000 to 400,000 TEUs per year - significantly more than the 800 to 1,000 container-units Mr. Stevens estimated that a feeder port in Toledo might see at the start.
With Melford, the port authority, and Midwest Terminals having signed an agreement to jointly pursue development of a Toledo terminal, Mr. Stevens and Mr. Martin said yesterday the next step is assessing how much potential business truly exists for such a facility.
They said they plan to bring a study proposal with them when they return to Toledo to speak during the Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments' Transportation Summit and Freight Conference Sept. 15-17.
Their visit to Toledo was a follow-up to a Toledo delegation's trip last month to Nova Scotia to visit the Melford site and meet with leaders there.
Contact David Patch at:
dpatch@theblade.com
or 419-724-6094.
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