The idea of a truck ferry from Cleveland to Wheatley surfaced recently, but local officials are saying there are more questions than answers at this time.
The Port of Cleveland stated it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Milo Harbour Inc. of Wheatley to “initiate a new cross-lake truck ferry service between Northeast Ohio and Southern Ontario. Expected to launch in early 2028, the service will create a direct maritime cargo connection across Lake Erie, providing manufacturers, shippers, trucking companies, and logistics partners with a reliable alternative to one of North America’s busiest and most congested border crossings while strengthening regional supply chain resilience and cross-border trade.”
That proposal would see up to 300 tractor trailers head in each direction daily. The trucks would drop the trailers off at the ferry in one port, with different trucks picking them off at the other once they clear customs, according to the Port of Cleveland’s press release.
And the customs issue is what is sticking with Chatham-Kent–Leamington MP Dave Epp. With the hope from the Port of Cleveland that the operation would be up and running in less than two years, Epp is left scratching his head.
“They have not approached my office,” he said. “But the number one starting point – does Milo have an agreement with CBSA (Canada Border Services Agency) to staff and put the capital into the port? Everything else is moot.”
CBSA has just staffed the freshly opened Gordie Howe bridge. Epp wonders how intent the border teams would be to have to staff another entry point nearby.
“Three hundred trucks a day. Canada has a huge problem with guns coming into the country,” Epp said.
He also pointed to Picton in Prince Edward County near Belleville. A similar effort took place there, but Epp said the CBSA refused to staff it.
Pelee Island is also a port of entry for aircraft and watercraft into Canada and is staffed by CBSA personnel. Combined with the two bridges and tunnel in Windsor, that is four existing crossing points in the area.
Detroit and Windsor shared a truck ferry in the past. It ran from 1990 to 2023 and dealt largely with the transport of hazardous materials. This ferry service shut down due to a reported lack of public funding to support the operation.
CBSA officials did not get back to us by press time on the matter. The same goes for the Port of Cleveland.
Milo Harbour Inc.’s Kieran Stewart said the company sees it as a win-win concept for all involved.
“This project represents a strategic opportunity for Wheatley, as well as the Province of Ontario and all of Canada,” Stewart, the project director, said in a media release. “The team at Milo Harbour Inc. are committed to supporting Ontario and Canada’s plan to diversify trade and ensure our supply chains are stronger than ever.”
Should the CBSA approve the Cleveland-Wheatley concept, and should their sister organization in the U.S. agree, Epp said there’d need to be significant improvements made in Wheatley harbour, such as dredging, to support the effort.
And through it all, the commercial fishing industry has to be respected.
“It’s a commercial fishing port. That has to be maintained,” Epp said. “We can’t interrupt the commercial fishing operations.”
Stuart McFadden, director of economic development with the municipality, said he’s aware of the MOU.
“Milo owns property on both sides of the harbour in Wheatley. We have been in casual conversation with Milo about this project probably for the past decade,” he said. “It was a concept. They knew they had lots of work that needed to be done to validate the project. We look forward to sitting down with the Milo group to better understand the project and understand the role the municipality has so we can ask questions in regard to local impact.”
That local impact would involve the truck traffic to and from the harbour.
“We will obviously have a lot of questions to ask on how it might impact the community and what answers will come,” McFadden said.
The proposed project has the Wheatley community buzzing, with numerous comments on social media from residents.
Howard Gabert, the chair of the Wheatley Task Force, said they are taking a wait-and-see approach to the whole thing, since it’s currently only a memorandum of understanding between two private companies.
“We’re definitely asking questions about this,” he said. “We’ve got many of them, including traffic issues, impact on the harbour itself and also on the commercial fishing industry.”
Gabert said they are in a state of “cautious optimism.
“There is potential for economic benefit here, but we want to make sure it doesn’t come at the cost of losing access to the waterfront,” he added. “We have to be careful to not interrupt the existing industry down there.”
Despite it being so early in the process to develop this initiative and the potential hurdles it faces, Chatham-Kent politicians are excited.
“This MOU between Milo Harbour in Wheatley and the Port of Clevland is an exciting opportunity that could further position Chatham-Kent as an important gateway for trade between Canada and the United States,” Mayor Darrin Canniff said. “A direct freight connection across Lake Erie has the potential to attract investment, support local businesses and create new opportunities for economic growth. We’re excited to learn more about the project and better understand what it could mean for Chatham-Kent’s economic development, infrastructure, agriculture, and future investment across Chatham-Kent.”
West Kent Coun. Lauren Anderson said there is “tremendous potential” for the project.
“A direct connection to Cleveland could create new opportunities for Wheatley and Chatham-Kent, and we’re excited to learn more about the details, including the potential benefits and the potential impacts on local infrastructure and agricultural community.”
However, the potential economic benefits and how to manage the truck traffic are moot points “until the CBSA says they’re on side here,” Epp said.
- With files from Mark Ribble, The Southpoint Sun
