Cargo is cargo: This Port is constantly developing new trade
Yogi Berra said something to the effect that "if people don't want to come to the ballpark, you can't stop 'em."

So it is in the world of port authorities, where even the most dazzling promotional and marketing schemes won't influence a shipper, carrier or industrial developer to use a port if the economics don't justify the commitment.

Sometimes, however, the attraction of new or expanded port business is merely a matter of helping potential customers become aware of opportunity. Nearly a half-century after the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway, there are still a lot of real and would-be exporters and importers in the Upper Midwest unaware that they may have viable options to the captivity of conventional rail and barge routings.

Or, sometimes, there's a physical obstacle to trade — inadequate port access because of rail or highway limitations, or lack of port infrastructure. Or perhaps there are artificial barriers, such as governmental regulations that could be changed if a company knew how to garner political support. Or maybe it's a lack of resources to conduct market research.

These are among the areas where today's port authorities should, and often do, step in. In other words, if logistics are strategic weapons in modern economic development, a port authority is a community's primary arsenal.

Today's port has become central to the flow of goods through the transportation chain, leading to the development of port-based distribution and logistics parks for the storage, preparation and circulation of goods.

In Duluth, this has been a natural progression, as witness the full house of tenants at the Seaway Port Authority's Clure Public Marine Terminal and the continued growth of Airpark, the Port-owned industrial site near Duluth International Airport.

The Port Authority — influenced in large measure by the appointment in 1991 of Lake Superior Warehousing Co. (LSW) as the Clure Terminal's managing agent — concluded years ago that cargo is cargo, whether carried by ship or rail or truck. LSW, responsible for the terminal's general cargo operations, adheres to the philosophy that warehouses, storage yards and equipment must be used for all types of cargo, both maritime and non-waterborne, and it's constantly developing new trade (Story, Page 4.)

LSW's success has also enabled the Port Authority to devote more time and attention to the bigger picture. We are strong advocates of efficiently integrating national and regional transportation policy. Although Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway issues are the top priority, we have worked hard, for example, to develop a heavy-haul trucking corridor on U.S. Highway 2 between the Twin Ports and North Dakota.

We are also pursuing the creation of a regional truck/rail intermodal site with an eye toward becoming a major distribution center for West Coast containers originating in or destined for the Minneapolis-St. Paul market. (And why not in Duluth instead of, as is now the case, Chicago?)

On Sept. 1, we joined with the U.S. St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corp. and the Canadian St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp. in sponsoring a "HwyH2O" forest products workshop in Duluth. We brought together several diverse interests to identify the key transportation and distribution issues and introduced the private sector to the new Great Lakes Maritime Research Institute, recently established by the University of Wisconsin-Superior and the University of Minnesota Duluth.

Few of our endeavors make waves in their early stages. In line with the long-range strategic planning project completed a year ago, we strive to find ways to become more effective in coordinating diverse interests, solving transportation problems, supporting market research, improving hinterland access, promoting public/private partnerships and developing working relationships with our universities.

It isn't always glamorous and it doesn't generate many headlines, but it's the way things are, and must be, today. Ultimately, to get back to Yogi, we want to minimize the reasons they won't stop not coming.