PORTAGE, Ind. — The grain terminal at Ports of Indiana-Burns Harbor is buying Indiana crops again. Louis Dreyfus Company began operating the Lake Michigan export facility on Sept. 30, Northwest Indiana Business Magazine reported. It had been closed since 2023.
The terminal is receiving corn, soybeans and wheat from local farms, Hoosier Ag Today reported. LDC said the site now has 11 commercial and operational employees.
Key facts
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Operator | Louis Dreyfus Company (LDC) |
| Reopened | Sept. 30, 2026 |
| Closed | 2023 (previous operator: Cargill) |
| Storage | 7.2 million bushels |
| Rail and barge capacity | 200 railcars, 20 barges |
| Workers | 11 (about 13 first projected) |
| Investment | $18 million previously announced; no updated figure |
| Exports, 1979–2023 | More than 500 million bushels of corn and soybeans |
A terminal built for volume
Ports of Indiana financed the terminal in 1979, according to Northwest Indiana Business Magazine. It moved more than 500 million bushels of corn and soybeans before it closed.
The port picked LDC to run it in June 2025. Burns Harbor Port Director Ryan McCoy laid out the scale then.
“This terminal is one of the leading export facilities in the Midwest, with capacity to load up to 90,000 bushels per hour into an ocean vessel or laker and unload 30,000 bushels per hour from a unit train,” McCoy said in the port’s release.
Ports of Indiana CEO Jody Peacock said at the time: “Combining LDC’s extensive resources with one of the most robust grain export facilities on the Great Lakes provides critical access to global markets for regional farmers.”
Money for farm country
LDC previously said it planned to invest $18 million to restart the terminal, Hoosier Ag Today reported. The company has not given an updated figure.
LDC also said it expected to buy as much as $70 million worth of crops a year, the outlet reported.
That demand lands in a big farm region. More than 3,400 northern Indiana farm operations in Lake, Porter, La Porte, St. Joseph, Newton, Jasper, Pulaski and Starke counties produce more than $2 billion in farm products each season, Northwest Indiana Business Magazine reported.
Why the location matters
Burns Harbor links Indiana to the Great Lakes, the St. Lawrence Seaway and the inland river system. That gives farmers and grain merchandisers another outlet when harvest backs up local elevators, Hoosier Ag Today reported.
“Burns Harbor is well-positioned at the southern shore of Lake Michigan, with access to multiple regional grain markets,” said Gordon Russell, LDC’s U.S. head of grains and oilseeds, in the 2025 release.
LDC already runs a soybean crushing and biodiesel plant in Claypool, Ind. The company is one of the world’s four largest grain processing companies, and its sales topped $50 billion in 2024, Northwest Indiana Business Magazine reported.
The bigger port picture
Ports of Indiana says its system contributes $8.7 billion a year to the state economy and supports about 50,000 jobs.
Northern Indiana farmers grow 160 million bushels of corn and soybeans a year, according to state and U.S. Department of Agriculture figures cited by Northwest Indiana Business Magazine. The reopened terminal gives more of that crop a direct path to the lake.
Related reading
Photo credit
¹ Photo: Louis Dreyfus Company — Sept. 30, 2026, ribbon cutting at the Burns Harbor grain terminal (as published by Hoosier Ag Today, "Photo courtesy of Louis Dreyfus Company"). ² Photo: Ports of Indiana — International Grain Terminal at Ports of Indiana-Burns Harbor (June 23, 2025, release). ³ Photo: Pi.1415926535, Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Resized for web; this copy is shared under the same license. ⁴ Photo: AlphaBeta135, Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Resized for web. ⁵ Photo: Ken Lund, Wikimedia Commons.jpg), licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. Resized for web; this copy is shared under the same license.
