DULUTH, Minn. — The Hansen-Mueller Company recently finalized acquisition of General Mills Elevator A in Duluth, Minnesota, completing a deal that will bring the grain-handling facility back into active service.
Owned previously by General Mills and inactive since 2015, Elevator A becomes the second Hansen-Mueller-owned grain complex in the Twin Ports, joining the Daisy Elevator and Elevator M complex in Superior, Wisconsin.
Elevator A anchors the northern end of Rice’s Point in Duluth. It stands 185 feet above the harbor, with a 3.5 million-bushel storage capacity. Consolidated Elevator Company built the structure with ceramic tile, brick and concrete in 1908, replacing the original wooden elevator constructed on the site in 1894. General Mills purchased the elevator from Consolidated in 1943, modernizing it in the 1970s and operating it until 2015. The site includes a 1,900-foot dock, with a slip depth of 28 feet, and on-dock rail service from BNSF Railway.
Nebraska-based Hansen-Mueller plans to bring the facility back into operation in time for the 2022 harvest season. The facility will import and export primarily small grains grown in the United States and Canada to domestic and foreign destinations.
“The facility fits our portfolio very well and will complement our import and export program, as well as our interior grain assets and processing plants,” said Paul Johnson, Hansen-Mueller vice president and chief operating officer. “We are excited to grow our business in the Port of Duluth-Superior, and bring new business onto the St. Lawrence Seaway.”
The reactivation of Duluth’s Elevator A is expected to add at least eight new jobs on the working waterfront, in addition to generating added revenues and increasing grain tonnage through the Port of Duluth-Superior.
“Elevator A is a valuable asset in our port, with its grain-handling capacity, excellent road and rail connections, plus a long, solid, Seaway-depth dock for ships, and we’re excited for its potential,” said Kate Ferguson, Duluth Seaway Port Authority director of trade and business development. “We’ve been looking for the right match to put that asset back into active use, and Hansen-Mueller proved to be that match. It was a process working together with Hansen-Mueller, General Mills and BNSF, which owns the land on which the elevator is built, and we’re appreciative of everyone’s efforts that brought us to this exciting announcement for Hansen-Mueller, the Port of Duluth-Superior and the Duluth Seaway Port Authority.”
About the Hansen-Mueller Company: Hansen-Mueller, a family-owned business, was founded in 1979. Hansen-Mueller owns or operates approximately 14 facilities nationwide, including three port locations, and three mills, in addition to its grain storage facilities. The company provides grain merchandising and logistics, commodity trading and feed processing products to customers across the Midwest and throughout the world.
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Approximately 800 vessels and 35 million short tons of cargo move through the Port of Duluth-Superior each year, making it the Great Lakes’ largest tonnage port and one of the nation’s top 20. The Port supports nearly 8,000 jobs and contributes $1.4 billion in business revenue to the regional economy. Learn more at DuluthPort.com.