Lake Superior port had record-setting year for wind cargo in 2020

DULUTH – A Lake Superior port is reporting a record-setting year when it comes to wind cargo.

The Port of Duluth-Superior received 525,000 freight tons of wind cargoes in 2020, easily eclipsing 2019′s mark of 306,000 freight tons.

The port welcomed 30 oceangoing ships with wind cargoes in 2020, sailing from eight countries: Brazil, Germany, India, Malaysia, Mexico, South Korea, Spain and Turkey. The shipments included the longest blades (242 feet) and towers (100 feet) ever handled in Duluth.

Collectively, the components will assemble 154 wind turbines across Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota.

“It was a record-setting season for wind energy cargoes in Duluth,” said Deb DeLuca, executive director of the Duluth Seaway Port Authority. “In fact, it was our second consecutive record-setting season for that particular type of cargo. The fact that we were able to handle this record-setting volume of wind cargo this year didn’t happen by accident. It’s a testament to years of hard work.”

As the Great Lakes’ westernmost port, the Port of Duluth-Superior has historically been a key port for shipping companies looking to efficiently move cargo directly to America’s Heartland.

The port is situated along the world’s longest freshwater sandbar, comprised of Minnesota Point’s seven-mile span and the three-mile Wisconsin Point.

“Being North America’s furthest-inland seaport really lends well to Duluth being the Midwest hub for wind cargo arrivals,” DeLuca said. “The fact that cargo can sail so far inland – some 2,038 nautical miles from the Atlantic Ocean to Duluth – is very advantageous for shippers.”

The Port of Duluth began receiving wind cargo in 2006. Recent improvements at the port include an $18 million rehabilitation and modernization of a dilapidated dock, a project that added 26 acres of modern outdoor storage space with road and on-dock rail access, as well as two new Seaway-depth berths and a roll-on/roll-off dock.

In 2017, the Port Authority added a 300-ton lift mobile crane to complement the terminal’s existing Duluth-built 90-ton twin gantry cranes and fleet of heavy-lift vehicles.