Jeffersonville's 300-Ton Crane Resets Ohio River Heavy-Lift Economics

Ports of Indiana announced on July 7 a $25 million federal BUILD grant, the largest award in the authority's 65-year history, funding a $32 million expansion at Jeffersonville in Clark County. The plan installs a 300-ton crane system, a 6,500-square-foot dock, and a 22,000-square-foot warehouse, raising lift capacity from 35 tons to 300 tons, doubling barge-rail transloading, and creating the port's first general cargo facility outside the floodplain. Completion is expected in 2028. The site connects to CSX, Norfolk Southern, and Anacostia's Louisville & Indiana Railroad.

The nearest comparable heavy-lift terminal on the Ohio River corridor, Cincinnati's public landing, operates at a 150-ton fixed crane limit. From 2028 forward, Jeffersonville becomes the regional ceiling for transformers, wind components, and oversized industrial machinery. If you are currently routing heavy components by permitted wide-load highway hauls, quantify what share of that freight could move to barge-rail and what it does to your landed cost. Worth noting: the $7 million non-federal match has not been sourced publicly. If it surfaces as a private tenant volume commitment, the expansion is already backed by contracted demand nobody has named.