We are the heavy hitters in bulk cargo. And we can prove it.
There is a reason the port of Duluth-Superior is often referred to as the "Great Lakes Bulk Cargo Capital." We move mountains of bulk material - an average of 35 million short tons each year. Listed here are just a few vital statistics:
- Iron ore and coal account in roughly equal proportions for about 80 percent of the Port of Duluth-Superior's total tonnage.
- It takes between 1.3 and 1.5 tons of iron ore to make a ton of steel. Outbound ore from Minnesota's Iron Range feeds the vast majority of this nation's steel mills.
- Some 14 million tons of low-sulphur coal from Montana and Wyoming get transported by water each year to feed utilities and manufacturing plants on the Lower Great Lakes.
- Outbound shipments of grain harvested in the Midwest and destined for delivery in Europe and Africa account for five to ten percent of the Port's annual tonnage.
- Inbound shipments of bulk commodities like limestone, salt, and cement comprise another ten percent; while general freight rounds out tonnage figures each year.
For a more complete listing of commodities and links to the terminals that handle those materials in Duluth-Superior, click here.