Small but powerful: Partnership powers Port of Oswego’s future
Safe, reliable navigation at the Port of Oswego supports more than vessels moving in and out of the harbor. It connects Great Lakes commerce with industries across the region and positions the port to support future economic growth in central New York.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Buffalo District, and the Port of Oswego Authority have built a longstanding partnership centered on maintaining the federal navigation infrastructure that makes that movement possible.
“We've always appreciated our partnership with the Army Corps of Engineers,” said Tom Drumm, executive director and CEO of the Port of Oswego Authority. “The secure breakwall structures allow us to do business in the way that we need to do business.”
Located on the southeastern shore of Lake Ontario, the Port of Oswego handles a diverse range of commodities, including aluminum, grain, corn and soybeans. The port has also handled cargo ranging from wind turbine components to rock salt.
Drumm describes it as a “small but powerful operation.”
That operation relies on vessels being able to safely and efficiently reach the port through Oswego Harbor. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Buffalo District maintains the harbor’s federal navigation infrastructure, including its navigation channel and breakwaters, which protect the harbor and help provide reliable access from Lake Ontario.
“This channel that you kind of see behind me here can be tricky to navigate sometimes,” Drumm said. “Being able to have a modern breakwall that is, from an infrastructure standpoint, very, very sound creates a navigational stronghold for us, for vessels to be able to get in and out of the port in a safe and efficient manner.”
The infrastructure supports commerce that extends well beyond Oswego.
Aluminum moving through the port, for example, supplies the automotive industry, demonstrating how infrastructure along the Great Lakes can support supply chains and manufacturing far from the water's edge.
Maintaining reliable harbor infrastructure is particularly important as the port looks toward potential growth in the region. Drumm pointed to major projects in central New York, including the planned Micron semiconductor manufacturing facility, as examples of opportunities that could increase the importance of regional transportation infrastructure.
“Those projects require safe, navigable waters,” Drumm said.
For the Buffalo District, maintaining federal navigation infrastructure in Oswego is part of a broader mission across the Great Lakes to provide safe and reliable waterways that support commercial navigation, local communities and the regional economy.
In Oswego, that mission is strengthened through coordination with the people who use and depend on the harbor.
“Without strong breakwall structures to be able to regulate and make our channel navigable, we would be in a very different situation,” Drumm said. “That's why these relationships are so important and why we've been so grateful for the upgrades and the continued partnership.”
As the Port of Oswego looks toward its next chapter, Drumm said maintaining that foundation will remain essential.
The Buffalo District delivers world class engineering solutions to the Great Lakes Region, the Army and the Nation to ensure national security, environmental sustainability, water resource management, and emergency assistance during peace and war. Learn more atwww.lrd.usace.army.mil/buffalo.
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