This film, “The Port Of Toledo, Ohio U.S.A.” was produced by the Public Relations Department of the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority. The film was made circa 1963 to promote the Port of Toledo, a large Great Lakes port located at the western end of Lake Erie. The Port provides intermodal access to rail and trucking resources, as well as Big Lucas and Little Lucas, two of the largest cranes of any port on the Great Lakes. It is currently operated by the Toledo–Lucas County Port Authority. Note: the lake carrier that is shown in the opening, the SS Edmund Fitzgerald, sank during a storm in November 10, 1975, with the loss of the entire crew.
The film opens with the SS Edmund Fitzgerald ship towing a smaller boat at 0:19. The narrator starts by saying that the Port of Toledo has been a large bulk handling port for nearly a half century at 0:56. Helicopter shot shows hundreds of railcars containing 300 types of soft coal at 1:11. A large mammoth loader is shown at 1:36. The conveyor belts that move the coal are shown at 2:24. The loading of the ships is shown at 2:46. The film shows a private terminal that was formed ten years before the new seaway at 3:13, it was the first location to load oversea ships with general cargo. Harbor installations showing ship building and repair are shown at 3:50. Next to the shipyard is one of the largest clean iron plants on the Great Lakes, shown at 4:02. The film then shows an oil refinery at 4:13.
Libbey Glass shown being made in Toledo Products at 4:34. A man tuning a scale at Toledo Scales is shown at 4:40. A ship is shown on a deep raft waterway at 5:10. A ship docking at The Port of Toledo is shown at 5:27. The gate controller is shown at 5:37. The film shows a vessel being raised as it enters the Port of Toledo at 6:18. The first general cargo terminal located on the Port is shown at 7:14. The second general cargo terminal is shown at 7:52. The open storage area is shown at 8:08. One of the two Gantry Cranes is shown at 9:14. The film shows 18 of the 30 acres for the holding commodities at 9:41. The helicopter passes over the building that contains the foreign trade zone at 10:00. The only Free Port in the area is shown at 10:17. The port also has a liquid storage terminal, this terminal has a capacity for 7 million gallons, shown at 10:55. Big Lucas, the Port Authority’s Gantry Crane, is shown at 11:19. It can place 110 tons on a ship, or 80 tons in the hold.
The film shows the new seaway that opened in 1969 at 12:01. Then, the film shows an area which is the prime trading territory of the port at 12:46. The narrator explains the financial benefits of using the Port of Toledo over the normal landways at 13:05. The narrator explains that harbor installations are on or nearby major North, South, East, and West expressway systems and turnpikes at 13:45. The port is also the hub of a vast railway network, shown at 14:24.
The film shows workers bottling imported Olives from Spain at 14:28. More workers are shown making corn pickers at 14:36. A machine that ties packages of all kinds in Michigan is shown at 15:02. Volkswagens are shown leaving Germany for their port of exit at 15:52. The ship Johannes Russ is shown at 16:00. The narrator says that by the end of 1965, the Port of Toledo had handled more than 100,000 Volkswagens, at 16:30. Port of Toledo is also better financially for export, the film shows a Jeep being exported at 16:58. Hundreds of Jeeps, probably destined for Vietnam, are shown at 17:23. High speed ships such as the German cargo liner Transmichigan are shown at 17:51. The film ends at 18:20.
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
