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2/3/2023
The Port of Duluth-Superior in Minnesota logged total maritime tonnage of 30.4 million short tons of cargo in 2022, down 7.6% compared with 2021's tonnage.
That figure is also down 7% compared to the five-season average, port officials said in a press release.
More than half of the cargo — 19 million tons — was iron ore. The port logged 970,000 tons of iron ore in January 2022, the busiest January for that commodity since the Duluth Seaway Port Authority started electronic record keeping in 2003, port officials said.
General cargo tonnage, which included wind turbine blades and large, heavy industrial equipment, totaled 118,000 tons for the year, more than quadruple the five-season average and the highest tonnage at the port since 1986. Salt tonnage was also up 26% from 2021 and cement tonnage was down from a "massive 2021" but still nearly 6% above the five-season average, port officials said.
Coal and grain posted the year's biggest declines, down 13% and 20.3%, respectively. The year produced the port's smallest grain throughput since 1890.
"Grain is a very dynamic commodity in terms of supply, demand, pricing and routing, and the port faced a number of headwinds in 2022, including two years of tightening grain supplies worldwide, further exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, a very strong dollar, extremely elevated transportation costs and competition from other countries' less expensive wheat," said Deb DeLuca, executive director of the Duluth Seaway Port Authority.
BNSF Railway Co., Canadian Pacific, CN and Union Pacific Railroad serve the port.