ON THE JOB FOR MICHIGAN: Port Director Paul LaMarre Emphasizes Senator Peters’ Efforts to Deliver Results for Port of Monroe

On the Job Video Series Highlights Senator Peters’ Efforts to Help Constituents and Communities Across Michigan

WASHINGTON, DC – In a new video from U.S. Senator Gary Peters’ (MI) office, Captain Paul LaMarre III, Director of the Port of Monroe and President of the American Great Lakes Ports Association, emphasizes Peters’ efforts to help support the Port of Monroe and position it for long-term success. The video is part of the On the Job for Michigan series, which highlights Peters’ leadership and advocacy on behalf of constituents and communities across Michigan.

“Senator Peters has supported the Port of Monroe, not just from our efforts to create Michigan’s first marine container terminal, which will be known as Michigan’s Maritime Gateway, but he also championed a number of grant efforts that have led to improved infrastructure and equipment that will put the port at the cutting edge of the next generation of Great Lakes shipping,” said LaMarre. 


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Watch Captain LaMarre’s On the Job for Michigan video here. You can also see the video posted on X/Twitter.

“The Port of Monroe is a critical resource for our Michigan manufacturers and our partners across the Great Lakes Region,” said Senator Peters. “I’ll continue to work alongside Captain LaMarre to help strengthen operations and ensure the Port of Monroe continues to play an important role in transporting the commodities and products that families and businesses rely on every day.”

During his time in the Senate, Peters has prioritized strengthening Michigan’s shipping ports, including the Port of Monroe. Since 2020, Peters has helped to secure nearly $13 million in grant funding for the port, including investments to expand cargo capacitypurchase new crane equipment and upgrade cargo screening infrastructure. In 2024, LaMarre testified during a Commerce Subcommittee field hearing convened by Peters to examine the impact of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law on Michigan’s transportation infrastructure. In 2021, Peters toured the Port of Monroe with Customs and Border Protection officials to discuss cargo clearance challenges facing the port.

Peters has also worked alongside LaMarre and other stakeholders to support Michigan’s maritime workforce. In 2023, Peters’ bipartisan Changing Age-Determined Eligibility to Student Incentive Payments (CADETS) Act was signed into law, expanding the Student Incentive Payment Program eligibility age for financial assistance to cadets who attended one of the six State Maritime Academies and commit to a post-graduation service obligation to include any qualified student who will meet the age requirements for enlistment in the U.S. Navy Reserve at their time of graduation.

Great Lakes Moment: Michigan’s Port of Monroe fosters a blue economy that welcomes wildlife

By John Hartig

Historically, the prevailing thinking was that society could have either a healthy economy or healthy biodiversity, but not both. But over time many businesses have proven this wrong. Michigan’s Port of Monroe is one, showing how a thriving maritime industry can go hand-in-hand with exceptional biodiversity.

Nestled on the banks of the River Raisin in Monroe, Michigan is the Port of Monroe — what mariners affectionately call the “Biggest Little Port” on the Great Lakes. However, this St. Lawrence Seaway System node not only welcomes limestone, synthetic gypsum, natural gas pipeline sections, steel coils, wind energy components and containers, but it also welcomes wildlife.

The port is 35 miles south of Detroit, Michigan and 17 miles north of Toledo, Ohio. It is Michigan’s only port on Lake Erie and is the gateway to the state’s far-reaching multimodal transportation network.

In 2023, the port received about 2.5 million tons of cargo. The port can transfer cargo between rail, truck or vessel. In 2023, the port received $16 million in state and federal grants to build a terminal that will allow the port to handle container shipments, the most common and efficient shipment method for goods. This will make Port of Monroe the first container terminal in Michigan when it comes online in 2025, making it one of the most state-of-the-art ports on the Great Lakes.

The Great Lakes Seaway Partnership has documented that the Port of Monroe and its maritime commerce support: 1,659 jobs, $96 million in economic activity, $121.1 million in personal income and local consumption expenditures and $38.5 million in federal and state tax revenue.

Port of Monroe is also getting a reputation for its exceptional wildlife

Western Lake Erie and the Port of Monroe are situated at the intersection of the Atlantic and Mississippi flyways. The flyways are ideal for migrating birds because they provide food, water and shelter. The Port of Monroe happens to be surrounded by approximately 1,742 acres of conservation lands — Sterling State Park, Ford March Unit of the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge, and wetland and prairie habitats that are part of the Monroe Power Plant — and the waters of western Lake Erie.

Lake Erie has been recognized for its biodiversity in the North American Waterfowl Management Plan (one of 67 areas of continental significance to North American ducks, geese and swans), the Canada-U.S. Lake Erie Lakewide Management Plan, and the Lake Erie Biodiversity Conservation Strategy produced by The Nature Conservancy. It has been identified as a priority area for waterfowl conservation by Ducks Unlimited.

Western Lake Erie and the lower River Raisin are a magnet for waterfowl because they provide stopover habitats where birds rest, refuel and find shelter during their migration between breeding and wintering areas. Such sites are critical for bird survival, as migration is the most dangerous part of their life cycle.

“More than 300,000 diving ducks like canvasbacks, bluebills, redheads and mergansers migrate through the area each year,” said Richard Micka, a lifelong outdoorsman and member of the River Raisin Public Advisory Committee and the International Wildlife Refuge Alliance. “We also have dabbling ducks that do not dive beneath the surface, including blue-winged and green-winged teal, pintails, black ducks and mallards. It should be no surprise that this area has long been a birding and waterfowl-hunting mecca.”

To help support osprey recovery efforts, the Port of Monroe worked with DTE Energy to relocate an active osprey nest at the port and then constructed two osprey platforms on its property. These platforms provide nesting habitat and have been successful in attracting this “species of special concern” in Michigan.

Osprey nest at Port of Monroe (credit: Port of Monroe).

The Port of Monroe also welcomes many other avian visitors. For example, Caspian tern, a threatened species in Michigan, has been a regular visitor to the port that inspires a sense of wonder in both port workers and deckhands from visiting ships.

Caspian terns (black head and orange beak) visiting the Port of Monroe (credit: Port of Monroe).

Lake Erie has the highest biological diversity and fish production of all the Great Lakes, and as a result, one of the largest freshwater fisheries in the world. Located at the mouth of the River Raisin is the 3,279-megawatt Monroe Power Plant owned by DTE Energy with Wildlife Habitat Council-certified habitats. This plant is literally in the shadow of the port. The thermal discharge from the plant prevents the water from always freezing in the winter and attracts large numbers of fish from Lake Erie’s world-class fishery. This, in turn, attracts fish-eating bald eagles — often more than 100.

The interest in seeing so many bald eagles in one place has led to an annual bald eagle tour sponsored by DTE Energy and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge. These tours have been held on power plant property for 14 consecutive years. Interest in seeing our National Symbol is so great that individuals have to be selected by lottery.

Bald eagles roosting at the Monroe Power Plant, 2017 (credit: Jake Bonello).

“We have seen up to 200 bald eagles while we are breaking ice with a tugboat at the port in winter,” said Paul LaMarre, director of the Port of Monroe. “It often feels like we are in a wildlife sanctuary, instead of a maritime port. This is something I wish more people could experience.”

Bald eagle off Port of Monroe (credit: Port of Monroe).

Not only is the Port of Monroe growing its operations and maritime economy, but it is also a partner in cleaning up the River Raisin Area of Concern and stewarding its natural resources.

“The Port of Monroe is a shining example that industry and environment can coexist,” said LaMarre. “The synergy of community, wildlife, and commercial waterway is at the heart of what we as a public port are striving to protect.”

John Hartig is a board member at the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy. He serves as a Visiting Scholar at the University of Windsor’s Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research and has written numerous books and publications on the environment and the Great Lakes. Hartig also helped create the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge, where he worked for 14 years as the refuge manager.

Heavy cargo transfers happening at the Port of Monroe

The Port of Monroe’s Turning Basin dock was the site of two unique transloads in the last week.

First, the Port and DRM Terminal Management completed the roll-off of two specialized heavy-haul trailers. The tug Ecosse delivered the barge from Windsor, Ontario in a unique cross-border transfer.

The Port and DRM partnered with McKeil Marine Limited, Buckingham Trucking, and GWS Forwarding to efficiently and safely roll-off the trailers. The operation was the first of its kind to take place at Monroe, and the Port/DRM are excited to provide roll-on roll-off services for both domestic and international cargo operations in the future.

The second operation involved the transfer of a 390-ton generator stator from a barge to a specialized rail car.

The stator was delivered from Schenectady, New York to Oswego New York via the NYS Canal system and barged to Monroe by the Ashton Marine tug Meredith Ashton.

A specialized crane was erected at the Port by Barnhart Crane & Rigging and Maxim Crane.

The stator is the same piece that was imported through the Port onboard the heavy-lift vessel Happy Ranger in 2019 and exported from the Port in 2022 for reconditioning. The Port has now been the site of three transfers involving the same component, with each operation being unique.

The Port was proud to work alongside HLI, Barnhart Crane & Rigging, Ceres Barge, Ashton Marine, Canadian National Railway, Mid American Group, Maxim Crane, GE Vernova, Ashton Marine, Fracht, DTE, and other partners in the handling of the stator.

The Port’s turning basin dock dates back to the original construction of the Port which took place in the 1930s and 1940s. The current turning basin rail spur was built in 2019 and allows components like the stator to be transferred directly from ship to rail.

Future RORO and heavy-lift operations at the turning basin dock will be enhanced by new infrastructure.

As part of the Port’s Lake Erie Renewable Energy Resilience Project, the turning basin dock will be fully rehabilitated, including a new concrete cap and construction of a seawall which collapsed in 2022. The project was funded by the U. S. Department of Transportation through the Port Infrastructure Development Program in 2022. It is the largest funding award received in the Port’s history.