Port of Duluth-Superior wraps up shipping season

Looking ahead at 2017, Duluth Seaway Port Authority Public Relations Director Adele Yorde told American Shipper the port authority will be completing a “de-bottlenecking project” on the main footprint of its Clure Public Terminal this year.    The Soo Locks, located on the St. Marys River connecting Lake Superior and Lake Huron, officially closed for the winter this past weekend.
   The Duluth Seaway Port Authority said nine U.S.-flag lakers are laying up at the Port of Duluth-Superior for the winter, including the:
     • American Century;
     • American Spirit;
     • Burns Harbor;
     • Herbert C. Jackson;
     • Paul R. Tregurtha;
     • Philip R. Clarke;
     • Arthur M. Anderson;
     • Lee A. Tregurtha;
     • And Roger Blough.
   The port authority remains optimistic regarding the 2017 shipping season, thanks to the completion of a construction project at the Clure Public Terminal in 2016 and due to multiple shipments of wind energy components that are already on the horizon for spring deliveries.   
   The 18-month construction project at the Clure Public Terminal was completed at the end of September, and Luanda Construction handed it over to the port authority in October. Vanta Coda, the executive director of the Duluth Seaway Port Authority, said in October the project immediately tripled the terminal’s outdoor storage capacity and added a new, reinforced dock, doubling its heavy-lift cargo handling capabilities.
   Duluth Seaway Port Authority Public Relations Director Adele Yorde told American Shipper the port authority in 2017 will be completing a $2.8 million “de-bottlenecking project” on the main footprint of its Clure Public Terminal to facilitate better truck access and circulation, including new pavement, fencing, a guard shack, hydrant relocations, sanitary service repairs, roadway lighting and installation of a truck scale.

Correction: A previous version of this story said the yearly closure and re-opening of the locks is dependent on the weather and the amount of ice on the lakes, but the yearly closure is scheduled for annual maintenance and repairs. The re-opening of the locks for the 2017 navigation season will take place March 25.