Duluth-Superior - American Great Lakes Ports Association (AGLPA)

Port of Duluth-Superior

Mid-America’s Gateway to the World

Moving the most tonnage on the Great Lakes, the Port of Duluth-Superior serves as a vital gateway for North American commerce. Duluth-Superior is a diversified multimodal shipping hub, offering global cargo transport through the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway, free-flowing major highways and direct Class I rail service to the East, West and Gulf Coast. While it is a global leader in the shipment of iron ore and other natural resource cargoes, the port also handles a diverse range of bulk and breakbulk cargo, including heavy-lift and project shipments that fuel industries across the continent. Examples include large machinery, wind energy components and other oversize and over-dimensional cargoes.

North America’s Farthest Inland Freshwater Seaport

Located at the westernmost tip of Lake Superior, the Port of Duluth-Superior features a remarkable 9-mile natural breakwater that shelters the port’s 49 miles of harbor frontage. Even at 2,342 miles from the Atlantic Ocean, it is the Great Lakes’ cargo capital.

The Port of Duluth-Superior Impact

The Port of Duluth-Superior supports thousands of jobs, generates billions of dollars in economic activity and serves as a vital link in the supply chain for global trade and North American steelmaking.

Jobs Supported

Economic Activity
(Annually)

$ 0 B

Income Generated
(Annually)

$ 0 M

Cargo Handled
(Metric Tons)

0 M+

Port Facts

More than 5.2 billion tons of cargo shipped since 1871.
7 multi-product bulk cargo terminals
6 grain elevators
2 iron ore docks
2 cement terminals
1 coal terminal
1 salt transformation facility
1 general cargo/breakbulk terminal: Clure Public Marine Terminal
- Facilities encompass more than 140 acres and 650,000 square feet of warehousing capacity.
- On-dock connection to four Class I railways (BNSF, UP, CN, CPKC), plus loop track
- Direct access to U.S. Interstate Highway 35 and regional highways
- Six heavy-lift capable cargo berths at Seaway depth and a modern ro-ro dock
- Twin rail-mounted electric gantry cranes (120-ton tandem lift) plus 300-ton mobile cranes
- Full-service intermodal/container handling terminal with sea, rail and road access
- Foreign Trade Zone #51
- On-site U.S. Customs and Border Patrol facilities

Additional Port Assets:

Tugboat and pilot boat services
DECC cruise ship berth with CBP passenger processing
Marine fueling terminal
Full-service shipyard with two dry docks
Metals scrapping/recycling facility
U.S. Coast Guard station
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers vessel yard

Cargo

Iron ore and other minerals, limestone, grain, coal, salt, cement, liquid bulk, breakbulk, containers and heavy-lift/project cargoes including machinery, steel, forest products, wind turbine components and other energy-sector cargoes.