Magazine of the Seaway Port Authority of Duluth * Spring, 1997 

Lafarge Terminals Provide Vital Link 

If cement is the essential binding ingredient in virtually all forms of construction materials-and it is-then the terminal is the essential link between the manufacturer of cement and the eventual user of the product. 

For the Cement Group of the Lafarge Corporation, that link at the Head of the Lakes is represented by terminals in Duluth and Superior. 
 
Superior's eight-acre site is the newer Lafarge terminal. With full channel draft of 27 feet right up to the seawall, the Superior terminal has a storage capacity of 8,400 tons. In addition to accommodating vessels, the Superior site also can ship and receive by rail and truck. 

The Duluth site also houses a Lafarge packaging plant for Portland cement and other products. (If you've ever hefted a 94-pound bag of Portland cement for your driveway or foundation-now you know where it might have come from.) 

Like so many waterfront operations in the Twin Ports, the Lafarge terminals seem deceptively quiet. From a distance, they don't seem to be bustling; from up close, they hum with energy. (If just one bag of cement weighs 94 pounds, imagine the power that must be harnessed and then put to work to move shiploads, trainloads and truckloads of this vital product.) 
The Duluth-Superior terminals serve as the vital link between the Lafarge manufacturing plant in Alpena, Michigan, and the next destinations in Minnesota and other Upper Midwest locations. 
Cement and other Lafarge products arrive from Alpena most often on vessels operated by Inland Lakes Transportation, Inc.-the Alpena, J.A.W. Iglehart or Townsend, or the new tug barge operated by Andrie, the Integrity. Once in Port, the products are handled by local Lafarge crews, with their many job skills. 
Both the Duluth and Superior terminals are under the direction of John Taivaloja, terminal manager. Mr. Taivaloja, who came to Duluth in 1994, has an electrical engineering degree from the Lawrence Institute of Technology in Southfield, Michigan, and has completed many business courses. He directs staffs of eight full-time hourly employees, four each in Duluth and Superior in addition to one other salaried employee and some seasonal employees. Together, they deploy a wide array of computer, mechanical, electrical and plumbing skills-and years of experience at just plain making things work. 
The Lafarge name itself is relatively new to the Twin Ports. The Duluth terminal originally bore the name of Huron Cement and later, in the 1950s, National Gypsum. In 1986 Lafarge acquired the Huron Division of National Gypsum and the present ownership was in place. 

The Superior terminal, built in the early 1950s, is a relative newcomer in terms of Twin Ports chronology. But the Duluth terminal, built in 1915, is a legitimate veteran by local waterfront standards. 
 Although not on the Lafarge books yet, some in Duluth and Superior hope that within a few years both terminals might be replaced by a new, consolidated operation, perhaps on the property of the Seaway Port Authority of Duluth. 
Regardless of location, though, the Lafarge terminals still will serve as the vital link between manufacturer and user. 
When it'sProcessed cement was discovered by Joseph Aspdin in 1824 and was called Portland cement because it resembled a gray stone mined from the island of Portland off the coast of England. 
People often confuse cement with concrete. Cement is a fine powder that is the principal strength-giving and property controlling component of concrete. Cement is to concrete as flour is to fruit cake. 
Concrete is a mixture of cement, aggregates and water that hardens to form a building material used for everything from sidewalks to skyscrapers. After water, concrete is the most consumed substance on earth, with almost one ton of it being used for each human every year. 
While different types of cement vary in their ingredients, four common elements are found in all types of cement: calcium, silica, aluminum and iron. 
If you're a do-in-yourselfer and want to make your own cement, here's how to do it: 
1.) Get raw materials from the quarry. The most common material is limestone because it is rich in calcium. Blast the limestone from the quarry and then crush it to form pieces that are two inches in size or less. 
2.) Prehomogenize the crushed stone with other materials (sand, mill scale or bauxite, to name a few) to achieve the right qualities of calcium, silica, aluminum and iron. 
3.) Further grind the limestone and additives. 
4.) Homogenize the ingredients. 
5.) Heat the homogenized mix up to 2,600 degrees Fahrenheit in the calcining zone, forming clinker compounds which you'll later cool and grind into fine cement powder in the cement mill. 
6.) Depending on which properties you need for your specific use, add fly ash, gypsum or silica fume. 
Now mix with water and aggregates to form ready-mixed concrete. 
Or, 7.) call your nearest Lafarge sales rep. 
About Lafarge 
Lafarge is the largest cement manufacturing company in Canada and second largest in the U.S., with total annual production capacity of about 11.5 million tons. 
Lafarge has the largest cement distribution system in North America, stretching across the continent. The company's 14 production plants are linked to about 90 cement terminals and warehouses by vessel, barge, truck and rail. 
Internationally, Lafarge is the world's second largest cement producer, second largest concrete producer and third largest gypsum producer. Its North American activity accounts for 23 percent of its annual income; 64 percent comes from its European and Mediterranean Basin activity. 
Lafarge Corporation is based in Reston, Virginia. Its Canadian subsidiary, Lafarge Canada Inc., is based in Quebec. 
Worldwide, the Lafarge Group of companies, headquartered in France and active in more than 45 countries, employs more than 35,000 people with sales of $6.9 billion.    For further information: http://www.lafargecorp.com/index.html