For the first 25 years of its existence in the Port of Duluth-Superior, the company known as St. Lawrence Cement — now Holcim Ltd. — has performed virtually flawlessly.

Manager David Sobczak, who helped build the installation, has been with the operation during that entire quarter-century. “The system has served us very well,” Mr. Sobczak said.

Standing a towering 284 feet (counting the superstructure that tops one of its four 217-foot silos), the terminal is the tallest structure in Duluth-Superior. It can store 43,000 tons of cement — in this case, Type 1 Portland cement, the only cargo this terminal handles.

The terminal occupies 7.4 acres and has 840 feet of dock frontage. With its Swedish-built unloader doing the heavy lifting, the terminal can unload a ship in about 54 hours, “if Mother Nature cooperates,” Mr. Sobczak said. The job proceeds around the clock until the last drop of cement is plucked out of the ship and it is sent back on its way.

The product leaves the terminal in a steady succession of rail cars and trucks. All this unloading and loading is done by a full-time staff of six, including Mr. Sobczak, and one additional employee during the shipping season.

Looking ahead, Mr. Sobczak said, “I see no reason why this terminal won’t be here another 50 to 75 years. It was built with a design that looks to the future.”