NOTE TO EDITORS: A ceremony will be held at 8:30 a.m. tomorrow (September 1) in the French River Room of the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center, 350 Harbor Drive, Duluth, Minnesota, where Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation Administrator Albert S. Jacquez will present the prestigious Robert J. Lewis Pacesetter Award to the presidents of Hallett Dock Company and Lake Superior Warehousing Company, Inc.

U.S. Department of Transportation
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Washington, D.C.

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News
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Rebecca McGill

August 31, 2005
Tel.: (202) 366-5418
Two Twin Ports Terminals Earn Seaway Pacesetter Awards

Two terminals at the Port of Duluth-Superior, Hallett Dock Co. and Lake Superior Warehousing Inc. (LSW), tomorrow will receive the St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation (SLSDC) Robert J. Lewis Pacesetter Award. The award recognizes terminals that have increased shipments through the Seaway to international markets.

“These two terminals have once again demonstrated that they know how to get the job done.” said SLSDC Administrator Albert S. Jacquez. “It proves what we’ve said all alone – the Seaway is a safe, reliable and efficient means to get American products to international markets.”

Hallett Dock’s Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Bill McGiffert and Lake Superior Warehousing, General Manager Gary Nicholson will receive the awards during a Forestry Products Workshop at the port.

Hallett Dock handled more than 284,000 metric tons (mt) in 2004, reporting a whopping 172 percent jump over tonnage shipped through the Seaway in 2003. Its major cargoes were bentonite clay, a material used in foundries, drilling operations and the iron ore industry; limestone; pet coke; fertilizers and sugar beets.

Lake Superior Warehousing shipped more than 45,000 mt in 2004 through the Seaway. Nicholson attributes their gain in Seaway traffic to increased steel shipments. In addition, this season LSW has been a key player in handling multiple shipments of wind turbines from Europe that are offloaded at their terminal and moved by truck to destinations in southern Manitoba and Minnesota.

Only five U.S. terminals and seven ports qualified for Pacesetters in the entire Great Lakes Seaway System for the 2004 navigation season. The award is presented annually by the SLSDC to American Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River ports and terminals showing improved traffic tonnage imports or exports shipped via the Great Lakes gateway to international markets.

The forestry products workshop seeks to increase waterborne movement of paper pulp, timber, and other wood products throughout the Great Lakes Seaway System. The Twin Ports of Duluth-Superior, the System’s perennial top tonnage port for iron ore and coal and U.S. leader for grain, have eagerly pursued forest commodities transport in recent years. In July, Duluth exported through LSW its first shipment of wood pulp to Europe.

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