Minnesota port ready to handle waterborne international containers

“Our Clure Terminal is a full-service multimodal logistics hub for the Upper Midwest, so it’s only natural that we offer the advantages of maritime container handling to complement our land-based network,” she said. “We’ve been nurturing this potential for a while and we’re excited to see it coming to fruition. 

“Considering the significant congestion and delays occurring at some coastal ports, we provide a fluid alternative for containers to move inland and bypass those coastal bottlenecks,” DeLuca said.

The Duluth Seaway Port Authority has invested a reported $36 million in terminalwide improvements since 2015 that helped pave the way for handling waterborne containers. 

“Duluth is unique as North America’s farthest-inland seaport, close to major markets like Chicago, Milwaukee, Des Moines, Fargo-Moorhead and, of course, the Twin Cities,” DeLuca told American Shipper. “With the launch of this new maritime container capability, Duluth is also the only U.S. Great Lakes seaport west of Cleveland that is capable of handling containers by direct water connection. That combination of geography and capacity creates a great synergy for the port, for shippers looking to reach those Upper Midwest markets and also for manufacturers in those markets looking to export via water.”

Jonathan Lamb, president of Duluth Cargo Connect, said: “We’re excited about expanding our container services to include a direct maritime connection over our docks, which will give our customers even more opportunity and flexibility in their supply chains. Whether the commodity is raw materials for manufacturing, finished goods, foodstuffs or other retail items, and whether connecting via feeder vessel with steamship-owned containers from a coastal port or direct charter vessel with private shipper-owned containers, we are well equipped to provide shippers with a seamless alternative.”

The Clure Terminal has five cargo berths, 430,000 square feet of warehouse capacity, more than 65 acres of outdoor ground storage, a roll-on/roll-off dock and twin rail-mounted gantry cranes.

According to the announcement, the terminal also has foreign trade zone status, the ability to fill and unload containers, heat-treated dunnage certification for export packaging, a truck scale, and reefer plugs. 

“This idea of containers reaching the Midwest directly by water isn’t new. It’s been part of the Clure Terminal vision since the mid-1960s but the time is right to bring that vision into a modern focus and we’re well positioned to do it,” DeLuca said. 

As of Tuesday, the Clure Terminal had not yet welcomed a container ship to Duluth. And those that do call probably won’t be visible for miles and miles like the mega-ships that call the coastal ports. The maximum capacity at the Port of Duluth-Superior is a container ship carrying 400 to 500 forty-foot equivalent units. 

About 800 vessels and 35 million short tons of cargo move through the Port of Duluth-Superior each year. The port, with 49 miles of harbor frontage, has 20 privately owned bulk cargo docks as well as the Clure Terminal. There also is a marine fueling depot, shipyard with dry docks, and tug and barge services. Four Class I railroads serve the port. 

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Click here for more American Shipper/FreightWaves stories by Senior Editor Kim Link-Wills.