Resilience is an increasingly important consideration for businesses and stakeholders, especially those connected to the Great Lakes. As home to nearly 20% of the world’s freshwater, preserving this natural resource is critical and falls to the responsibility of those stakeholders who live, work and play on and along the Great Lakes. As a driver of the region’s economy, organizations that utilize the waterways rely on the ability to adapt to ensure continued use of the lakes. 

Dimensions of Port Resilience 

Port resilience can take many forms. Those that provide opportunities for the maritime industry include infrastructure, operational, environmental and regional system resilience.  

• Infrastructure resilience: The ability of port physical assets, such as docks, breakwaters, terminals, navigation channels and cargo-handling equipment, to withstand environmental stresses, aging and changing operational demands while continuing to support safe and efficient maritime activity. 

• Operational resilience: The capacity of a port’s logistics systems, workforce and operational practices to maintain cargo movement and adapt to disruptions such as weather events, market shifts or supply chain interruptions. 

• Environmental resilience: The ability of ports to adapt to climate variability and environmental pressures while protecting surrounding ecosystems, including efforts to reduce emissions, manage shoreline impacts and support sustainable maritime operations. 

• Regional system resilience: The strength and adaptability of the interconnected region, including coordination among ports, transportation systems and governing institutions to ensure cargo can continue moving even when disruptions affect individual facilities in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway system. 

The Great Lakes maritime system supports millions of jobs and billions of dollars in economic activity across the United States and Canada, making reliability and predictability essential.  

Emerging Pressures on Great Lakes Ports  

For Great Lakes ports, resilience is especially critical due to the economic impact and time-sensitive nature of the transportation industry. Extreme weather events could cause global supply chain disruptions, and long-term changing climate conditions might result in shifting commodity types and tonnages, requiring the system to adapt. The potential for changes in water levels and seasonal variation is also a factor for ports in the region to consider when investing in new infrastructure. The aging maritime infrastructure across the region puts further stress on the system as it increases susceptibility to damage and disruption. Increasing the adaptive capacity, or ability to quickly recover when damage occurs, is critical to ensure smooth operation of the seaway system.  

The state of Michigan released its first 10-year maritime strategy in 2026 to guide investment in ports, vessels, workforce development and clean energy technologies. This is the first statewide report of its kind and can serve as an example for others to follow suit. 

Michigan’s Maritime Strategy as a Case Study 

The state of Michigan has developed a strategic plan to guide investments in the maritime industry. The plan integrates economic growth with long-term sustainability of port operations. This is the first statewide maritime strategy, with a 10-year roadmap that was developed with more than 200 stakeholders across government, industry, community and academic partners.  

There are six key priorities that include:  

• modernizing ports and intermodal infrastructure 

• expanding maritime manufacturing 

• advancing low-emission vessels and fuels 

• strengthening maritime workforce development 

• fostering maritime innovation 

• improving sustainability and resilience of harbors and waterfronts.  

Resilience appears through this strategy in several forms, including infrastructure upgrades, environmental protection, clean energy and fuel transition and supply chain diversification. 

The maritime strategy cites the financial benefits of climate adaptation in minimizing damage or downtime for port operations. According to the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy, it’s estimated for every $1 invested in climate adaptation, $4–11 can be avoided in future damage. Investing in port resilience will require a capital investment today but will ultimately lead to cost savings for the long-term, in an industry that has been critical to the region for generations. 

Strategies for Building Port Resilience  

Multiple strategies exist for building resilience into ports. The main opportunities include:  

• Infrastructure modernization: Much of the infrastructure in the region has been in operation for a long time, with some infrastructure reaching or extending beyond its expected lifetime. Modernizing infrastructure provides an opportunity to design with future fuels in mind, integrating sustainability and resilience.  

• Operational flexibility: Diversification provides inherent resilience for an organization. If supply chain disruptions occur, having operational flexibility protects your organization.  

• Energy transition: Alternative fuels and electrification for vessels and cargo equipment are increasingly available. As technology develops and costs go down, there will be an uptake in these alternative energy sources that provide emission reduction. Electrification can provide energy independence from the local grid and reduce operational costs when paired with renewable energy generation.  

• Regional coordination: The St. Lawrance Seaway is a critical system that allows access to the Great Lakes from the Atlantic Ocean. There are many single points of access, which is a risk to halting the system if a shutdown occurs, as seen by the labor strikes in 2023. Regional coordination and careful maintenance schedules and infrastructure updates are critical to these points in the system with limited opportunity for redundancy.  

What Other Great Lakes States Can Learn  

Michigan’s strategy could serve as a model for other states or provinces that border the Great Lakes. Additionally, it could serve as groundwork for the development of regional or binational coordinated efforts. Climate adaptation planning can be developed collaboratively to ensure the resilience of the maritime industry across the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway and serve as a source of collaboration and economic development for the region.  

Resilience as Competitive Advantage  

Ports that invest in resilience measures will be better positioned to maintain reliability, attract cargo due to greater confidence in operational continuity and provide consistent support to regional economies. Integrating adaptation measures into new infrastructure projects or site updates serves as a longstanding investment to future-proof critical operations.  

As climate uncertainty and global trade shift to reshape maritime transportation, resilience is becoming the defining challenge for Great Lakes ports. Michigan’s maritime strategy offers one example of how states and port communities can begin preparing today for the demands of tomorrow. 

Emily Alexander is a senior associate scientist at Tunley Environmental.  

She can be reached at EmilyAlexander@tunley-environmental.com.