DULUTH, Minn. — A decline in the volume of grain shipments is being blamed for the pending closure of the biggest grain elevator in the port of Duluth-Superior.
CHS Inc. will shut down its terminal in Superior, Wisconsin by August 31.
In a brief statement, the company cited "shifts in how grain flows through our supply chain."
The Duluth Seaway Port Authority calls the move "a disappointing blow" to the port and to the community as a whole.
But due to a variety of factors, grain shipments through the port have plummeted over the years.
According to information published by DSPA, after a high of around nine millions tons in the late 1970s, the annual total is now only about one million tons of wheat as well as sugar beet pulp pellets, flax and canola.
A spokesperson for CHS told the Minnesota Star Tribune there's no longer enough grain flowing through the port to keep the operation sustainable.
"There are more efficient and less expensive ways to transport grain. Shuttle trains can carry grain to deep-water facilities that can accommodate ships larger than those that travel through the locks of the Great Lakes," said John Griffith, the company's senior vice-president of global grain marketing.
The Port of Thunder Bay typically handles around eight times the volume of grain that's been shipped through Duluth-Superior in recent years.
Port CEO Chris Heikkinen said he's not expecting any negative impact from the CHS terminal closure, but it potentially "opens up the availability of ships for the Canadian side to take advantage of."
He explained that ships that would normally be going to Duluth-Superior to take grain, and are already in the St. Lawrence Seaway, "will now be looking for a backhaul cargo somewhere within the system."
