International heavy-lift honor, Duluth’s second since 2019, recognizes cargo-handling success
DULUTH, Minn. — Duluth Cargo Connect was named 2026 Port/Terminal Operator of the Year at the Heavy Lift Awards today in London, earning the global honor for the second time in seven years.
Presented by Heavy Lift & Project Forwarding International, the award recognizes port authorities and terminal operators for proactive investment and initiatives that advance the handling of heavy-lift and project cargo. Duluth Cargo Connect, a working partnership of the Duluth Seaway Port Authority and Lake Superior Warehousing, was selected by an international judging panel of project cargo shippers, freight forwarders, ocean carriers and industry analysts from a shortlist that also included operators in the Netherlands and Italy.
Duluth’s entry detailed a $19.4 million pier redevelopment that turned an out-of-service, century-old grain terminal property into an expansion of the Clure Public Marine Terminal for heavy-lift and project cargo. Completed in 2025, the most recent work included a $10.5 million reconstruction of Berths 10 and 11, which added 1,200 lineal feet of steel dock wall, new bollards and reinforced concrete decking.
The rebuilt berths entered service in April, when the tug Meredith Ashton and a 240-foot deck barge carrying project cargo became the first vessel in decades to dock at Berth 10.
Duluth Cargo Connect also invested $2 million in nine new forklifts, including a 70-ton capacity unit, and $750,000 in U.S. Customs and Border Protection inspection infrastructure to speed container and cargo clearance. Warehousing capacity expanded to more than 800,000 square feet with new construction and addition of facilities.
“This award recognizes more than one project or one season,” said Kevin Beardsley, executive director of the Duluth Seaway Port Authority. “It reflects decades of commitment from past Port Authority leadership, our state and federal partners and the team at Lake Superior Warehousing, all of whom helped turn an abandoned pier into productive, modern infrastructure built to serve our breakbulk, heavy-lift and project cargo customers. Earning this honor a second time reflects how that commitment is paying dividends.”
The site’s transformation spanned more than 30 years. A grain terminal constructed on the pier in 1907 closed in the 1980s, and the Port Authority demolished it in 1997. Reconstruction of the cleared site began in 2015, supported by a $10 million U.S. Department of Transportation TIGER grant, and the property was renamed the Clure Terminal Expansion pier in 2016 after completion of a truck- and rail-served roll-on/roll-off dock. The latest berth work was supported by the U.S. Maritime Administration and the Minnesota Legislature.
The 26-acre pier now provides four heavy-lift-capable berths. Together with the adjacent Clure Terminal, Duluth Cargo Connect offers six heavy-lift berths, 300-ton mobile cranes, twin rail-mounted gantry cranes with 120-ton tandem-lift capability and more than 40 acres of secured outdoor laydown space. That capacity supported wind energy cargo records in 2019 and 2020.
The terminal’s inland connections carry that capacity well beyond the docks. On-dock rail is served directly by four Class I railroads: BNSF, CN, CPKC and Union Pacific. Duluth is a two-time winner of the Railway Industrial Clearance Association’s Port of the Year Award, a recognition determined by the shippers, carriers and clearance specialists who move dimensional cargo by rail. Landside assets also include purpose-built first- and last-mile connections linking the terminal directly to Interstate 35 and U.S. Highway 53, including routes for permitted overweight and dimensional loads.
Much of the work surrounding a project cargo move can take place on site. CBP inspection is available at the terminal, which operates within Foreign Trade Zone No. 51, and Duluth Cargo Connect provides tailor-made services ranging from custom crating and component separation to inventory management, ship parceling and trucking coordination.
“For heavy-lift and project cargo customers, the big lift is just a fraction of the job,” said Jonathan Lamb, president of Duluth Cargo Connect. “At our facility, the Seaway connection, the rail, the highway, customs and our people are all right there. That means personalized service from a high-quality workforce, custom solutions, fewer handoffs and a more direct path inland from North America’s farthest-inland seaport.”
Duluth Cargo Connect first earned Port/Terminal Operator of the Year honors in 2019 in Antwerp, Belgium. Judges at the time cited its safe and efficient handling of oversized cargo, investment in new equipment and facilities, maintenance of existing infrastructure and commitment to minimizing customer wait times.
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The Port of Duluth-Superior is North America’s farthest-inland seaport and the Great Lakes’ all-time tonnage leader. A multimodal cargo gateway for global trade, it connects midcontinent markets via the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway System, direct Class I rail and free-flowing highways. The port is a catalyst for regional economic development, sustaining more than 7,000 jobs and generating $1.6 billion in annual economic activity. Learn more at DuluthCargo.com and DuluthPort.com.