DULUTH, MN (KDAL) – Reduced coal and iron ore shipments through the Port of Duluth-Superior has left total tonnage through August about 3.9 million tons short of last year.
The Duluth Seaway Port Authority says lower coal shipments accounted for around 75 percent of that decline as North American energy production shifts away from coal fired electricity.
That led to the closing of Superior’s Midwest Energy Resources coal terminal which shipped coal to locations on the lower Great Lakes and across the world for the last 50 years.
The other 25 percent of the Twin Ports tonnage deficit is due to a drop in iron ore shipments. About half of that decline is the diminished iron ore exports to Canada.
Except for the coal and iron ore declines, most of the other Duluth-Superior cargo categories showed little change from a year ago at this time.
However, there were sizeable gains in grain, cement and salt shipments. Durum wheat exports more than doubled from the 2025 pace and imports of Turkish cement was up by 82 percent and Canadian salt by 19 percent.
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