North Star Port

he year 2025 has a portentous sound to it; we are a quarter of the way into the "new" cen- tury. 2025 is also the 155th year of a commer- cial port at the Head of the Lakes. In 1870, Duluth welcomed its first train on the recently completed Lake Superior & Mississippi Railroad. The advent of rail kick-started the port: Duluth started digging its ship canal (completed in 1871) and soon earned recognition as a mid-continent trading hub. The port has spanned 28 American presidents, two World Wars, the Great Depression, the Space Age, the Digital Revolution and the dawns of radio, television, the internet, the smartphone, and Artificial Intelligence. It's an impressive run of longevity through immense change, with the port persisting as the region's economic heart- beat. And while that hasn't changed, the component parts, the connected freight modes, have morphed considerably. Vessels evolved from sail- to steam- to diesel-fueled ships, with accompanying evolution of hull material, vessel size and total number of vessels in the system. The port's earli- est cargoes were lumber, grain, coal, iron ore and "walking cargo" (immigrants, businessmen and tourists arriving on passenger ships). While the lumber and walking cargo faded, Duluth-Superior has remained a bulk, non-hazardous, natural resources port throughout its history: iron ore, coal, limestone, grain and other "bulks" (e.g., salt, cement) comprise over 90 percent of our tonnage today. Ship hulls were originally wood or wood-iron composite, with the first steel hulls launched in the 1880s. The iconic cigar-shaped whaleback ships were part of the landscape from 1888 to 1970. Early wood-hulled freighters were around 200 feet in length. By 1916, steel-hulled freighters were more commonly 600 feet long. The construction of the 1,200-foot Poe Lock at the Soo Locks in 1968 made it possible to intro- duce the first thousand-footers in the 1970s. Tug-barges were introduced in the 1990s, rounding out the laker scene. The opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway in 1959 brought oceangoing ships and expanded the variety of cargo in our harbor. At that time, the Seaway could accommodate approx- imately 80 percent of the global merchant fleet. Container shipping dawned in 1956 and expanded in the 1960s and 1970s, completely revolutionizing worldwide freight movements and the global fleet. By 1980, the standard container vessel had "outgrown" the Seaway. Today, the Seaway can accommodate at best 5 percent of the global fleet, however, it remains the most environmentally friendly, fuel-efficient way to move goods into the middle of our continent. From that first railroad in 1870 until the mid-1900s, landside freight mostly moved by rail. Railroads expanded to haul iron ore from the Iron Range to the port and to serve industries attracted by the Twin Ports transportation nexus. Highway freight got a slower start. In 1870, a dirt road connected Duluth and the Twin Cities. By 1927, a fully paved stretch of Trunk Highway 1 connected Duluth and Minneapolis- St. Paul; this later became U.S. Highway 61, eventually supplanted by Interstate 35. Crews completed the first section of I-35 between the Twin Cities and Duluth in 1962, with continual expansion through 1977, when the northern terminus reached Mesaba Avenue. That northern terminus extended to Lake Avenue by 1987 and to 26th Avenue East by 1992. Moving on these expanded roadways, freight trucks evolved from less powerful gasoline-powered engines to higher torque, more fuel-efficient diesel engines from the 1920s through 1960. With the combination of powerful semi-trailer trucks and a free-flowing interstate system, trucks took over much of the landside freight movement. Evidence of that exists in the railroad consolidation since 1960. When the Seaway opened, eight major railroads served the Twin Ports. Today, four Class I railroads serve Duluth-Superior. Freight will continue to evolve with new fuels, electrifica- tion and autonomous vehicles, driving the need for updated infrastructure and likely presenting new energy- and fuel- related cargo opportunities in Duluth-Superior. Port terminals will need to continue planning for flexibility and resilience to support the region's industries. No doubt, more change will come, but we're working to ensure that at least one thing remains constant: the port transportation nexus will continue as a defining feature and economic driver for the region, hopefully for at least another 155 years. T DULUTHPORT.COM | 1 THE HARBOR LINE Deb DeLuca Executive Director THE PORT HAS SPANNED 28 AMERICAN PRESIDENTS, TWO WORLD WARS, THE GREAT DEPRESSION, THE SPACE AGE, THE DIGITAL REVOLUTION AND THE DAWNS OF RADIO, TELEVISION, THE INTERNET, THE SMARTPHONE, AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE.

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