Detroit-Windsor Truck Ferry faces closure
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The Detroit-Windsor Truck Ferry on the banks of the Detroit River. Photo: Courtesy of the Detroit-Windsor Truck Ferry
The Detroit-Windsor Truck Ferry — a border-crossing alternative to the Ambassador Bridge — will go out of business soon without a government rescue.
Why it matters: The truck ferry provides the only legal border crossing for local vehicles carrying hazardous materials. Without it, trucks could spend more money driving farther to cross into Canada.
Context: The truck ferry opened in 1990 and provides a 20-minute trip across the Detroit River between Windsor and Detroit.
- Aside from hazmat, the ferry also accommodates overweight and oversized cargo that is too big for the Ambassador Bridge, including construction materials for the new Gordie Howe International Bridge between Michigan and Ontario.
- It's also useful during border disruptions like the Canadian truckers' protest last year.
What they're saying: "It serves a lot of purposes," C.H. Brown Transportation owner Mike Brown tells Axios. "It's detrimental to a lot of industries to stop it now."
- Brown says his company carries hazardous loads for BASF and uses the ferry 40 to 50 times a week.
- Without it, more fuel and driver hours will be spent traveling to cross the border at Port Huron.
Between the lines: The ferry's business has declined because fewer hazmat trucks are using it, president Gregg Ward tells Axios, suggesting many are instead illegally crossing on the Ambassador.
- But Ward says the ferry provides critical services on both sides of the border that are worth the $160,000 per month subsidy he's seeking from the state or Canadian government.
- "Those are very broad public benefits, so I'm asking the government to step up and participate," Ward says.
The other side: A spokesperson for the Detroit International Bridge Company, which owns the Ambassador, tells Axios: "We deny any illegal activity. Certain hazardous materials have always been legally crossing the Ambassador Bridge."
What we're watching: The truck ferry's closure could have implications for construction of the Gordie Howe.
- The $4.1 billion electric vehicle battery plant that Stellantis N.V. and the South Korean battery maker LG Energy Solution are building in Windsor also could be affected, the Detroit News reports.
What's next: The truck ferry will sign a short-term charter agreement to operate for the next few months.