DULUTH, MN (KDAL) – Despite having its biggest January since 2010, total maritime tonnage for the Port of Duluth-Superior finished the 2022 navigation season down 7.6 percent compared to 2021 and down 7 percent against the five-season average.
Some 30.4 million short tons of cargo transited the port this season, including nearly 19 million tons of iron ore, which finished within 2.3 percent of the five-season average.
Almost 970,000 tons of iron ore sailed from the port in January, which was the largest January iron ore shipments for Duluth-Superior since the Duluth Seaway Port Authority shifted to electronic record-keeping in 2003.
General cargo tonnage provided the season’s biggest highlight, much of it was very large and heavy. For example, 260-foot wind turbine blades and a 125-ton Yankee dryer for ST Paper in West Duluth. That general cargo tonnage total more than quadrupled the five-season average, finishing at nearly 118,000 tons, the most for Duluth-Superior since 1986.
Coal and grain posted the season’s biggest declines, down 13 percent and 20.3 percent, respectively, compared to 2021. It was the port’s smallest grain throughput since 1890.
