Cleveland Public Power Collaborating with Port of Cleveland on Modernization Project

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
April 5, 2023

Cleveland Public Power plans to collaborate with the Cleveland-Cuyahoga Port Authority on the port’s electrification and warehouse modernization project.

As the international gateway for cargo entering and exiting the region via maritime transport, the Port of Cleveland handles a diverse mix of cargo primarily imported from Europe. The cargo includes specialty breakbulk cargo, such as steel coil, tin plate, and various steel shapes/plate and other specialty cargo. 

Modernization of this 67-year-old facility will bring the terminal’s Warehouse A to a state of good repair, continue the implementation of the Port Authority’s Stormwater Master Plan to improve the quality of stormwater discharging into Lake Erie, and make necessary electrification investments to prepare the Terminal for its next 50 years of operation, the public power utility said.

This is a multi-phase project and CPP “will play an integral role in making necessary power upgrades to electrical feeds coming into the Terminal and establish Warehouse A as the Port’s electrical distribution hub,” the utility said.

This hub will allow the Port to provide new electrical service to the locomotive storage area in Warehouse A and the newly constructed maintenance facility.

A critical sub-element of this project is to coordinate with CPP on the future power requirements of the Port Authority’s General Cargo Terminal, which projections indicate will substantially increase as portions of the Terminal’s operations are electrified.