Businesses in Macomb County are within 500 miles of half the population of the United States and Canada, our country’s largest trading partner by far. Our exceptional location and efficient transportation system makes reaching many of the major Canadian and U.S. markets a breeze.

From any door in Macomb County, you are less than an hour’s driving time from the three international border crossings, Detroit-Metro Airport, Willow Run Airport, and several deep-water commercial ports.

Michigan and the Detroit Region are the nation’s principal gateway for international trade with Canada, approximately one-third of all U.S. Canadian border crossings take place here.

Vehicular Border Crossings

Macomb is conveniently located between the Detroit and Port Huron crossing, both approximately 30 miles from the center of the county. These two international crossings (Detroit – the Ambassador Bridge and Port Huron - the Blue Water Bridge) rank as the top two commercial crossings on the US-Canada border. Annually there are more than 4.7 million truck crossings and 19.4 million passenger vehicle crossings.

Direct access to the Canadian cities of Windsor, Sarnia, Chatham, London, Hamilton, Fort Erie, Barrie, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec City are provided via the Detroit and Port Huron gateways.

In 2002, $150 billion in trade came trough Michigan’s three ports of entry: Detroit, Port Huron, and Sault Ste. Marie.

Ports

Macomb County’s international flavor is further enhanced by the steady stream of ships passing by on the Detroit River, one of the busiest inland waterways in the world. The river carries more shipping traffic than any other river in North America and Detroit and Port Huron rank as two of the major U.S. ports. The opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway in 1959 made Detroit an international port and nearly 1,000 foreign ships use the Port of Detroit facilities annually.

In 2003, the Port of Detroit was ranked as the 3rd largest International Freight Gateway in the U.S. based on value of shipments. A total of $102 billion in goods passed trough the port, $55 billion were exports and $47 billion were imports. Port Huron ranked 8th with $62 billion in goods, $23 billion in exports and $40 billion in imports.

Rail

Michigan has 45 percent of all North American rail trade, California is the next largest at 10 percent. Port Huron is the #2 rail port in North America with $22 billion and Detroit at $15 billion is #3.