Any visitor to or resident of Duluth is likely immediately struck by the port of Duluth. Whether it’s visiting the famous Aerial Lift Bridge in Canal Park, watching 1,000-foot ore boats glide past, or seeing the massive piles of iron ore by the docks along I-35, the port is undoubtedly one of the key features of the city. The following article gives a brief history of the Port of Duluth-Superior, an overview of the past few years, and some exciting developments that could provide new opportunities in the coming years.
The Past
Duluth was formed on the shores of Lake Superior in 1854, at that time nothing more than a tiny village in a pristine location that was envisioned to be a great trading hub for the United States (Hudelson and Ross 2006). By 1870, a railroad had reached Duluth, and in 1871, the port opened with its very first shipments of grain, coal, and building supplies. Since these humble beginnings, Duluth has seen massive amounts of commerce move through the port, including coal, grain, limestone, salt, wind turbine components, and, of course, iron ore.
As with the movement of goods in any area of the world, the port has seen stretches of prosperity and periods of struggle throughout its history. Figure 1 shows the average volume of goods that moved through the port per year, split into decade-long segments.
Several interesting trends are evident from this data. Perhaps most notable is the sharp decline in volume during the 1930s, which tracks with the onset of the Great Depression and the overall economic downturn during that decade. The following decade, however, saw the largest volume of commerce in any decade move through the port. The 1940s saw over 64 million tons of products move through the port PER YEAR! Nearly 50 million tons per year were comprised of iron ore, fueling the immense need for steel to support the Allied effort in World War II.
After the boom of the 1940s and 1950s, total movement declined until the 1990s and 2000s, which saw a slight bump in total production due to a significant increase in coal movement at that time. Since then, total volume has dropped off, with average annual volume for the current decade under 30 million tons for the first time since the beginning of the 1900s.
The Present
The onset of the current decade in 2020 saw plenty of turmoil. While average annual cargo movement is down (about 35.5 million tons per year in the 2010s compared to 29.4 million tons per year in the 2020s), not all commodities have been affected in the same way. Iron ore movement has actually increased from the previous decade, by about half a million tons annually. Coal volume, on the other hand, has been nearly cut in half compared to the previous decade, as the world continues to move towards greener sources of energy. This data is valuable and gives a snapshot into current movement at the port but cannot be stated without a few important caveats. First, data for the 2020s contains only three years (2020, 2021, and 2022) and as such is not representative of either the current year or what the current decade will actually finish with in terms of average movement. Second, the COVID-19 pandemic and all the shortages, stoppages, and shutdowns that it entailed means that this decade’s data is lower because of that. It is entirely possible that the second half of the 2020s sees far greater movement than the first half and brings average movement for the decade higher as a result.
One of the more interesting developments in the past two years has been a drastic fall in grain shipments. In 2022, 644,612 tons of grain moved through the port. This was the lowest total for grain since 1890—over 130 years ago! 2021, with only 808,498 tons of grain, marked the first time that total grain movement was under one million tons since 1936. Figure 2 gives a more complete history of grain movement throughout the port—from the first shipments in 1871, to the immense highs of the 1970s, to current times.
An article in the Duluth News Tribune identified several reasons for the recent decline in grain shipments, including fewer saltwater vessels traveling to Duluth, many of which had brought in goods such as wind turbine parts and would leave Duluth loaded with grain. This decline has been in part caused by the war in Ukraine, which disrupted demand for grain throughout the world, with Ukraine’s missing exports being filled largely by grain from ports in Chicago and Toledo instead of Duluth. Lower grain supply due to poor harvests, higher transportation costs, and competition from cheaper wheat rounded out the storm that led to this drastic decline.
The Future
While movement through the port has been down the past few years, there are several exciting opportunities developing within the port that may serve to provide an increase in product volume in the coming years. Container shipping has become possible in Duluth, giving an opportunity for a wide variety of goods to be moved through the port. For example, in May 2022, the first container-carrying ship left the port loaded with 200, 20-foot shipping containers filled with kidney beans. And, in early 2023, it was announced that there would be a monthly shipment of containers and cargo between the port of Duluth and Antwerp, Belgium, the first such arrangement between Duluth and Europe in decades. This arrangement also allows for multiple shippers to use the same vessel, which should serve to let container shipping through the port get a foothold. It also bodes well for grain movement, as ships may arrive in Duluth with containers and wind turbine parts and then bring other containers and grain (or other commodities) back to Europe. Overall, this opportunity should be a great way to diversify what moves through the port and may serve as an incentive for more saltwater vessels to make their way to Duluth.
Photo Credit: "Duluth, Minnesota, Himing, Ship" by photolibrarian is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.