Gateway
for grain
In the past few “Prairie Perspectives” columns, we’ve taken a closer look at how the Port of Duluth-Superior ties in with the U.S. grain marketing system, as well as the St. Lawrence Seaway. Now it’s time to row the boat ashore and take a closer look at the Port itself, from an agricultural perspective.
The amount of export grain that moves through the Port of Duluth-Superior is limited compared to volume out of the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Northwest. Gulf ports handle almost half of total U.S. wheat exports, and Pacific ports nearly that much. Wheat shipments via the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway comprise less than 10 percent of the total.
Still, the Port of Duluth-Superior is the largest of the Great Lakes, and handles more U.S. grain than any of the other major ports within the system. Further, it is a major hub for terminal elevator activity, including grain that moves in and out by truck, rail and vessel to markets throughout the U.S. and Canada. There are three terminal elevators on the Duluth side of the Port (General Mills Elevator A, Cargill, AGP) and three on the Superior side (General Mills Elevator S, CHS, Peavey Connors Point). Altogether, the six facilities have 55 million bushels of licensed wheat silo capacity.
| The Port of Duluth-Superior is the largest on the Great Lakes, and handles more U.S. grain than any of the other major ports within the system. Further, it is a major hub for terminal elevator activity, including grain that moves in and out by truck, rail and vessel to markets throughout the U.S. and Canada. |
The Port of Duluth-Superior is the top ranking Great Lakes port in total cargo volume and moves more iron ore than any other U.S. port. The three major cargoes that move out of Duluth-Superior are ore (about 40 percent of the total), coal (also 40 percent) and grain (10 percent).
An economic analysis conducted in 2001 indicated that the Port of Duluth-Superior has an economic impact of $200 million annually, and directly supports 2,000 jobs. The Port averages about 40 million metric tons of cargo each year in a navigation season that usually begins in late March and continues until late December for ocean vessels, and about mid-January for Great Lakes traffic.
Domestic and international trade in and out of the harbor is fostered by the Duluth Seaway Port Authority, an independent public agency created by the Minnesota Legislature in 1955. Revenue is generated mainly through land leases, operating fees, economic development investments and related financing activities. The Port Authority is governed by a seven-member Board of Commissioners: Two appointed by the governor of Minnesota, two by St. Louis County and three by the Duluth City Council.
You can find a ton of information about the Port on its Web site, www.duluthport.com, including, appropriately enough, tonnage statistics. Click on the link “News and Numbers.” Under tonnage statistics, you’ll find cargo stats that go all the way back to the 1870s. Reviewing the historical information, it’s interesting to note that grain shipments out of the Port peaked over 9 million metric tons (about 330 million bushels) twice, in 1973 and 1978, with strong world demand, including from the Eastern Bloc, keying those shipments.
Bulk grain shipments out of the Port were 3.3 million tons in 2002. Grain export traffic out of the Port has been soft in recent years, for a number of reasons, according to Ron Johnson, the Duluth Seaway Port Authority’s trade development director. Those factors include a weaker U.S. export market to destinations out of the Atlantic, as well as a strong U.S. dollar in recent years. When the U.S. dollar fell, making U.S. grain more attractive, other trade issues — such as import tariffs steel and high ocean freight rates — negatively impacted Great Lakes grain exports.
Spring wheat, durum and soybeans usually make up the bulk of grains shipped out of Duluth, says Mr. Johnson, although there are occasional shipments of sugarbeet pellets, flax, malting barley, sunflower seeds, corn and field peas.
The Minneapolis Grain Exchange keeps track of grain shipments out of Duluth on its Web site, www.mgex.com. Click on the link “Market Information,” then “Monthly Reports.” Under “Elevator Volume,” you’ll find grain volume handled by Duluth-Superior elevators, as well as commodities in and out by kind and by mode of transportation. “Stocks Reports” tracks wheat stocks at Duluth-Superior, Minneapolis-St. Paul and Red Wing, Minn., and “Vessel Report” tracks weekly vessel clearances of grain from the Port of Duluth-Superior to domestic, Canadian and overseas destinations.
Clearly, Duluth-Superior is an important gateway to overseas markets for grain producers on the prairie.