Great Lakes’ shipping’s ‘untapped potential’: Duluth-Superior port sees opportunity in crisis
Duluth, MN – The Duluth Seaway Port Authority has announced it will begin accepting maritime cargo containers at its Clure Public Marine Terminal for the first time.
Until now, the Port Authority and its multimodal service with Lake Superior Warehousing, Duluth Cargo Connect, could only handle cargo containers moving through the terminal on rail and truck, not off ships.
“Being able to receive containers by ship makes us only the second U.S. Great Lakes port able to do so, and the only one west of Cleveland,” Port Authority Executive Director Deb DeLuca said.
DeLuca said the Port Authority had to meet regulatory requirements, beginning the process in the middle of 2020, while also building out aspects of its facilities, in order to gain the ability to accept cargo containers.
The news this week, exclusive to the News Tribune, comes at a time when cargo containers loaded aboard massive ships are bottlenecked in places around the globe, particularly at ports along the West Coast of the United States.
“There’s untapped potential to use this marine highway in a way that would benefit North America,” DeLuca said, referring to the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway System, which connects Duluth to the rest of the world.
In September, a team of University of Wisconsin-Superior Transportation and Logistics Management students toured the port at Long Beach, California, during an annual multimodal conference.
They saw the backlog of ships up close. Senior Kayleigh Seagraves recalled this week how there were so many vessels that some were circling in deeper water, unable to anchor because of there were so many backed-up ships already at anchorage depth.
On the topic of the port of Duluth-Superior taking in container cargoes, DeLuca said the port “is capable of being a relief valve for supply chain pressure.”
“It could play a strong role in providing North America with a stronger, more diverse and resilient supply chain,” she said.
But the Great Lakes won’t be able to handle the massive “Panamax” containerships, so named for their ability to transit the Panama Canal. Instead, the familiar foreign vessels that transport grains, project cargoes, and windmill components to and from the local port will be the ones involved in carrying any containers in or out of the Twin Ports.
And because the Port Authority couldn’t advertise itself as a maritime cargo container port until this month, it’ll take time to present the Clure terminal as a viable option for movers of container-shipped goods in the Midwest.
“We’re looking into how that will fit into the supply chain,” DeLuca said. “It’s very exciting. We’re efficient, we’re uncongested, and we offer direct access to the Midwest and North American heartland.”
USCG helicopter medevacs crewman from Mchipicoten
Sault Ste. Marie, ON – Coast Guard helicopter picked up an ailing crew member of the lake freighter Michipicoten, delivering them to Sault Area Hospital shortly before 10 a.m. on Thursday.
The Canadian-flagged Michipicoten was on the water in northern Lake Huron when the Coast guard was called to medivac them from the vessel. The aircrew used a basket to hoist the crew member from the 680-foot freighter to the helicopter was flown out of Air Station Traverse City.
The crew member was taken to Sault Area Hospital for treatment. The crew member’s condition was not disclosed.
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2021 Marine Mart Saturday in St. Clair Shores, MI
The 2021 Marine Mart, sponsored by Dossin Great Lakes Museum, will be Saturday from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. at the VFW Post in St. Clair Shores, MI. Buy, sell and trade photos, books, models, artwork and other Great Lakes memorabilia. There will be a special table where photos by the late Jim Hoffman and other items from his collection will be sold to benefit the Marine Historical Society of Detroit. Food will be available. See the ad in the photo gallery for details.
