As the development of wind energy surges, Port sees both imports and exports of components

In a reverse of its customary trade pattern, the Port of Duluth-Superior this season exported its first-ever wind turbine components through the Port Authority-owned Clure Public Marine Terminal. All previous wind turbine cargoes through the Twin Ports had been imports.

The Beluga Constitution visited the Port in July, and her sister vessel the Beluga Expectation arrived in August, each with wind tower sections, nacelles and hubs from Spain. The cargo was unloaded and delivered via truck to the Tatanka wind farm near Ellendale, N.D. The inbound forwarding/logistics were handled by DSV Air & Sea Inc., of Elk Grove Village, Ill.

Upon discharge, the vessels loaded wind turbine blades manufactured by a major U.S. producer of the specialized blades that were delivered to the Port of Bilbao, Spain, for various European wind farm projects. Professional Logistics Group, Inc., was hired to manage the logistics of the efforts, and Transgroup Worldwide Logistics, Houston, Tex., was selected to handle the forwarding/logistics of the shipments out of Duluth.

Guthrie-Hubner was the local agent, and terminal operator Lake Superior Warehousing Company, Inc., handled the unloading and reloading of the wind turbine components.

“Components for wind energy projects throughout the world are served by a global supply chain which the Port of Duluth is equipped to handle,” said Ron Johnson, trade development director for the Duluth Seaway Port Authority.

“The Port began to handle wind component cargo in 2004, and has seen dramatic growth in the volumes of this type of cargo,” said Mr. Johnson. “The Port of Duluth-Superior is central to both wind turbine component manufacturing and wind farm developments in the U.S. and Canada.”

“It is great to see a traditional cargo like iron ore doing well [related item, next page] and also see the project and wind turbine cargo volume growing too,” said Duluth Port Director Adolph Ojard.