ICYMI: Michigan Infrastructure Office Announces Drummond Island Infrastructure Project, Reducing Shipping Costs and Transferring Savings to Michiganders

ICYMI: Michigan Infrastructure Office Announces Drummond Island Infrastructure Project, Reducing Shipping Costs and Transferring Savings to Michiganders

LANSING, Mich.—Today, the Michigan Infrastructure Office announced the start of critical upgrades at the Drummond Dolomite facility on Drummond Island, a project designed to improve efficiency, enhance safety for vessel workers, and reduce delays caused by turbulent conditions. Made possible by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Port Infrastructure Development Program (PIDP), funding for these improvements will increase the annual volume of materials shipped by 20%. The $10,154,024 investment from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will help modernize the facility and support more reliable operations.

The PIDP funds will enable the facility to serve larger vessels, reducing the number of trips required and supporting more sustainable operations. Planned enhancements will allow larger, more efficient freighters to transport materials, reducing the number of trips required. As a result, the investment will lower fuel consumption, decrease shipping costs, and minimize logistical challenges, bolstering Michigan’s steel and agricultural industries by ensuring consistent, cost-effective transport of essential materials.

Key components of the project include significant ship loader system improvements, such as installing a new, state-of-the-art ship loader with a longer boom and increased height to accommodate wider and taller vessels. Additionally, sea wall enhancements will involve demolishing a sunken vessel, installing new sheet pile and tie-back structures, constructing a new mooring cell, adding bollards, and undertaking comprehensive repairs to address deficiencies identified in a 2019 inspection.

“The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law investment on Drummond Island highlights Michigan’s commitment to supporting critical industries like steel and agriculture,” said Zachary Kolodin, chief infrastructure officer and director of the Michigan Infrastructure Office. “By upgrading the freighter loading dock, we’re enabling more efficient transport of essential materials like dolomite, which strengthens steel for manufacturing and enriches soil for agricultural productivity. These upgrades will reduce costs, improve reliability, and support the industries that are vital to Michigan’s economy and the region’s success.”

Drummond Island, located one mile east of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula across Lake Huron’s De Tour Passage, has underlying limestone rock with high magnesium and calcium carbonate content that is mined at Drummond Dolomite’s quarry. The magnesium-rich limestone, known as dolomite, produced from this facility is primarily used in the steel, agricultural, and construction industries. The project, led by the Chippewa County Economic Development Corporation in partnership with Drummond Dolomite, will advance ongoing efforts to meet the large and growing product demand.

For more information about MIO, please visitwww.michigan.gov/whitmer/issues/michigan-infrastructure-office.

ABOUT THE MICHIGAN INFRASTRUCTURE OFFICE

The Michigan Infrastructure Office (MIO) is responsible for organizing and executing Governor Whitmer’s vision for infrastructure, coordinating across state government, marshaling resources, and partnering with local officials, federal partners, and outside stakeholders to ensure resources sent to Michigan through BIL, also known as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), are used efficiently and effectively.