Ports of Indiana opens trade office in Ireland

The Ports of Indiana has opened an international trade office in Ireland to support the launch of a direct Europe-Indiana container service.

Ports officials tapped 30-year maritime trade veteran Brian Dooley to lead the effort, ports officials said in a press release.

The new trade office has two locations: one in Cork and the other in Kildare. Dooley will serve as the port authority's point of contact for identifying and pursuing new trade opportunities in Europe, ports officials said.

Ireland in 2024 shipped $32.4 billion worth of goods to the state of Indiana, more than triple the value shipped by any other country, said Ports of Indiana officials, citing the World Institute for Strategic Economic Research. However, most of those shipments didn't arrive in Indiana via the Ports of Indiana, they added. 

Ports of Indiana is preparing to launch the Europe-Indiana container service out of its Burns Harbor container terminal on Lake Michigan. Once operational, it will provide the only direct ocean container service into the Chicago metropolitan area, said ports officials. Test shipments are scheduled to begin later this year. 

Dooley previously served as business support manager at Ireland's Port of Cork for five years. Prior to that role, he was operations supervisor at MTL Peelports in Dublin, Ireland, for nine years, and assistant operations manager at Marine Terminals Ltd. for more than a decade.

"Indiana has a unique port system and the trade connections with Ireland present a tremendous opportunity for future growth and creating efficiencies by better leveraging maritime transportation routes through the Great Lakes and U.S. river system," Dooley said in the press release.