Operations: Duluth/Superior

Shipping season winds down in Port of Duluth-Superior; last Lakers enter winter layup

The 2016 Great Lakes commercial shipping season came to a close at the Port of Duluth/Superior following the January 15 shutdown of the Soo Locks, connecting link at Sault Ste. Marie between Lake Superior and the lower Great Lakes.

The season ended with the arrival of the last of nine Laker vessels that will spend their winter layup at the Twin Ports -- the Philip R. Clarke, the Arthur M. Anderson, the Lee A. Tregurtha and the Roger Blough.

An estimated 30 million short tons of cargo moved through the port during the 2016 shipping season, a slight drop from last season. An upsurge in grain and iron ore shipments marked the final months of the season. The port’s last ocean-going vessel of 2016, the Andean, departed Duluth on December 22 downward bound for the Seaway locks, which closed for the season at the end of December.

Project cargo movements were steady throughout the year. Duluth Seaway Port Authority officials are looking ahead to 2017 with optimism for additional cargoes moving across its Clure Public Terminal, with its newly completed $18 million dock expansion project and the prospect of multiple shipments of wind energy components for spring delivery.