The Chicago District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers maintains the Indiana Harbor under the River and Harbors Act of 1913. Today, the Corps' project includes a 708 meter long concrete-capped breakwater accompanied by a eastern 61-meter rubble mound extension and a northern 341-meter rubble mound breakwater.

The Indiana Harbor has a 244-meter wide, 8.8 meter deep approach channel and a 8.5-meter deep anchorage and turning basin. The Indiana Harbor entrance channel is 85 meters wide and 8.8 meters deep, and the main canal channel is 6.7 meters deep. Two branch channels are also 6.7 meters deep.

The Indiana Harbor and Canal has not been dredged since 1972 because there is not an appropriate disposal facility for the highly-contaminated canal sediment. The new disposal facility will have capacity for 3.6 thousand cubic meters and will accommodate maintenance dredging for a 20-year period.

Today, Indiana Harbor is still in the heart of a crowded industrial area that includes ArcelorMittal Steel's two facilities. The former Inland Steel Company is now the Indiana Harbor Works lies on the east side of the canal. BP has a refinery nearby.

Cargoes of iron ore and limestone move through the Indiana Harbor and Canal to the steel mills from the quarries and mines in the upper Midwest regions. Other cargoes moving through the port include coke, steel, gypsum, cement, concrete, and petroleum products.

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