NEW YORK – Most East Coast and Midwest ports that handle shipments of metal were open Wednesday as conditions started to return to normal after super storm Sandy left the majority of logistics hubs with minimal damages.

Along the East Coast, most of the public ports returned to normal operations after heavy winds and high tides caused operations to shut down as early as Sunday (amm.com, Oct. 29).

The Maryland Port Administration, which has jurisdiction over the Port of Baltimore, has lifted all restrictions, it said on its website. Vessel cargo operations resumed at 7:00 p.m. Tuesday and truck gates reopened Wednesday morning when all port operations returned to normal, it said.

The Port of Norfolk also reopened operations on Tuesday, while the South Jersey Port Corp. did not close operations during the storm (amm.com, Oct. 30).

Numerous attempts to reach the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Wednesday were unsuccessful.

In the Midwest, which saw waves as high as 30 feet in Lake Michigan despite being out of the storm’s immediate path, impacts were also minimal.

“To my knowledge, I would expect things were pretty well buttoned up,” Glen G. Nekvasil, vice president of the Lake Carriers’ Association, told AMM late Tuesday. “Most of the fleet on Lake Michigan is anchored. We’re just waiting on the weather to pass now,” he added.

At the Port of Indiana at Burns Harbor, a spokesman said that conditions remained “very windy” and that ship arrivals and departures have been delayed by the storm.

“The ships that were originally planning to leave earlier probably won’t leave until later today, or maybe even later this week,” the spokesman said. “We sent some people home yesterday. We’ve tied down all the ships in place but there have been no significant damages.”