October 25 - The Port of Indiana is celebrating its 40th year in a big way - by handling the largest shipment of project cargo in the port's history.

Business, community and Great Lakes officials joined port management for a special celebration on Thursday commemorating the 40th anniversary of Indiana's first port. During the ceremony, Port Director Peter Lamanannounced that the port is currently handling a project cargo shipment that is by far the largest ever to come through the Lake Michigan port.

The shipment of 134 complete turbine units has been carried by 11 ships from Canada Steamship Lines and Flinter Shipping from various locations around the Great Lakes - with the final two ships offloading their cargo at the port last week.

The shipment was coordinated by Vectora Transportation for final destination in Bloomington. The windmills are being stored throughout the port on about 20 acres (8 ha). The shipments were unloaded by port terminal operator,Federal Marine Terminals. This year, the port also handled its first outgoing shipment of wind equipment as two ships of turbines from the Acciona Windpower plant in Iowa are being exported through the port to Nova Scotia.

"It's an exciting time around here right now," Laman said. "This port is truly becoming the preferred destination for wind cargo shipments in and out of the Midwest because of our modern facilities, the central location and our extremely efficient terminal operations."