Plan for new Lake Ontario port in Somerset confirmed

Rick Pfeiffer -, Niagara Gazette, Niagara Falls, N.Y.
Updated ·4 min read

May 21—The Hamilton-Oshawa Port Authority (HOPA) says it has reached an agreement with the owner of the decommissioned Somerset Generation Station to build a new Lake Ontario "short sea shipping corridor" and port at the 1,800-acre site in Barker.

The project, which would link the largest port authority in the Province of Ontario's golden horseshoe — the region that links trade from the U.S. to Canada's largest city, Toronto, and beyond — was first reported by the Gazette on Friday.

Tuesday's written announcement of the "partnership between HOPA and an affiliate of Beowulf Electricity & Data Inc." stated the project will "establish a new marine service to connect key Canada-US markets" via a new "port-to-port connection" linking Oshawa, Ont., and Barker.

A "multimodal shipping terminal" would be created at the former location of New York's last coal-fired electric generation plant on the southern shore of Lake Ontario. The plant was decommissioned in 2020.

HOPA said the cross-lake marine shipping corridor would create "supply chain capacity and reduce emissions associated with bi-national goods movement."

"The creation of a new port-to-port connection with our most important trade partner clearly makes economic and environmental sense," said Ian Hamilton, president and CEO of HOPA Ports. "Southern Ontario is struggling to keep up with the demand on its highways; the economic cost of congestion in the greater Toronto/Hamilton area is estimated to be up to $6 billion annually."

The HOPA Ports chief said the project will provide an economic boost to both the United States and Canada.

"Both regional economies will benefit from a cleaner, faster and more efficient maritime trade corridor," Hamilton said. "While marine transportation is already the most environmentally efficient mode of transportation, the short distance between the two partner locations sets the stage for future opportunities to explore the use of alternative-fuel vessels."

A Memorandum of Understanding between HOPA and the Beowulf affiliate calls for the partners to "enhance the current $494 billion annual US-Canadian trade partnership by creating a new two-way trade route that would significantly reduce carbon emissions and border congestion from truck traffic by introducing a marine transportation option."

The Barker site, which has been undergoing redevelopment, is approximately 37 miles directly southwest of the Port of Oshawa. The site is currently the location of the Lake Mariner Data facility, a high-tech campus focused on supporting various high energy use industries including bitcoin mining, artificial intelligence and high-performance computing.

"Somerset's promising future has long been anchored in its advantageous location along the shores of Lake Ontario, bolstered by valuable energy infrastructure and the exceptional quality of our local workforce," said Paul Prager, CEO of Beowulf. "We are thrilled that HOPA has recognized these same qualities and sought to partner with us on this exciting transportation project."

The partners said work on the project will begin immediately with a "detailed market analysis." The development plan also calls for the partners to work with "key stakeholders in both countries (including local, state, provincial and federal officials, regulatory agencies, and business groups, among others) to develop and make public a project plan and schedule for the Port of Somerset development."

A traffic study on the potential impact of the new port on surrounding Niagara County communities will also be part of the development process, HOPA and Beowulf said.

The partners project that the port development would create hundreds of direct and indirect jobs in Niagara County and the Greater Buffalo area including stevedores, warehouse employees, freight forwarders, dockworkers, crane operators, vessel agents, dredging contractors, marine pilots, truck drivers and shipyard workers among others.

"Niagara County's location as a border community with Canada has always been a major focus of our efforts to drive economic growth and opportunity, and (Tuesday's) announcement will unlock that potential and result in significant investment in our region," Niagara County Legislature Chair Becky Wydysh said. "The fact that the port would be sited at the former Somerset coal plant is a tremendous reuse of that property and needed in a community that took a big hit in the loss of revenue and jobs when the coal plant closed."