Get a Load of This!

2008 Port of Duluth-Superior Stats

1,126 vessels called on the Duluth-Superior port. 69 were oceangoing ships (less than half of the salty traffic of 2007).

Tonnage for the season, which ended on January 12, 2009 was 45,640,002 short tons; 4.6% behind 2007. Despite the global economic downturn and drops in steel production and manufacturing during the latter part of 2008, record coal shipments and the reallocation of iron ore pellets kept the season's traffic relatively stable. Project cargo traffic, which includes wind turbine components and Canadian oil sands equipment, remained steady. The precipitous decline in grain movement, reflected in reduced "salty" traffic, is partially attributed to exceptional harvests in the Ukraine and Australia, which reduced the global demand for American grain.

Commodity	Trend	Change from 2007
Coal RECORD!		+6.3%
Iron ore		-7%
Grain		-61%
Project cargo		No change

The traffic through the St. Lawrence Seaway fell by 5.35% from 2007.

"We’re in unchartered territory; it’s difficult to know where inventories and freight rates will be in the year ahead, what sectors of the economy will recover fastest, where grain markets will be globally, or how many vessels will be in operation to start the season." Adolph Ojard, Duluth Seaway Port Authority executive director, January 2009.