Ports of Indiana has chosen Louis Dreyfus Company to operate the grain export facility at its Burns Harbor location on Lake Michigan, officials announced.
The terminal, which operated from 1979 to 2023 and exported more than 500 million bushels of corn and soybeans during that period, will now be managed by one of the world's "big four" global agricultural commodities companies. LDC reported net sales of $50.6 billion in 2024.
"We're very pleased to partner with LDC to revitalize one of the most important agricultural shipping facilities in the state," said Ports of Indiana CEO Jody Peacock. "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."
The facility's strategic importance lies in its multimodal capabilities, Peacock noted. "This is one of only a few places in the Midwest where you can load 1 million bushels of corn onto an ocean vessel for export while simultaneously unloading an 85-car unit train and hundreds of semi-trucks from local farmers."
LDC, founded in France in 1851, established U.S. operations in 1909 and currently operates the country's largest fully integrated soybean crushing and biodiesel plant in Claypool, Indiana.
Gordon Russell, LDC's U.S. Head of Grains & Oilseeds, said the company is "excited to join forces with Ports of Indiana," noting that "Burns Harbor is well-positioned at the southern shore of Lake Michigan, with access to multiple regional grain markets."
The port's grain operation includes storage capacity for 7.2 million bushels of grain, 200 railcars and 20 barges. It can load up to 90,000 bushels per hour into vessels and unload 30,000 bushels per hour from trains.
LDC is expected to begin operating the terminal in early 2026.
