North Star Port

C areer paths can take unex- pected turns. Just ask Lynn Bergstedt, who recently retired as vice president of Chicago-based Azcon Metals and gen- eral manager of the company's Duluth scrap metal recycling facility on Rice's Point. This company's heritage dates back to 1863. Bergstedt grew up intending to follow her father into law enforcement. She never guessed that taking a brief pause in her college edu- cation to get a job and save money for school would lead to a 50-year reward- ing career in scrap management. Scrapping old plans for new It was 1975 when the Duluth East High School graduate took a break from her studies at the Duluth Area Vocational Technical Institute (now Lake Superior College) to refresh her bank account. She went to the local employment office and got an interview for an adminis- trative secretary position at what was then Hyman-Michaels Company, a scrap metal processer on the Duluth waterfront. It turned out she knew the company head, Bert Pollan, as the father of schoolmates. "I got the job right away," said Berg- stedt, recalling that pivotal moment. "I really thought it was going to be tempo- rary, but I found the industry so inter- esting, and the idea of recycling fit into my values at the time, so I stayed." Bergstedt loved her job as adminis- trative secretary. She learned about the industry and met many inter- esting people and community lead- ers through her boss and mentor 's involvement in organizations such as The United Way, The Depot, and St. Luke's Hospital. Proving her mettle In 1986, the company (which by then had been purchased and merged with another business to form Azcon Corporation) pro- moted her to account executive, a role that involved purchas- ing, estimating prices and a bit of sales. Her recycling client accounts included large industrial operations such as taconite mines, paper mills, railroads and foundries that generated a lot of scrap metal. "It was quite a learning experience to visit the taconite mines and other industrial customer sites," Bergstedt said. "I had to learn the different grades of ferrous and nonferrous metals, the logistics of efficiently loading and hauling materials, and how to estimate DULUTHPORT.COM | 3 One unique aspect of Azcon Metals' work on the Duluth waterfront is the occasional scrapping of Great Lakes ore carriers and freighters. The Rice's Point facility has its own slip where retired vessels come to be dismantled piece-by-piece. Numerous ships have been scrapped at the site, including the Henry H. Rogers, Henry Phipps, George Hindman, Joshua A. Hatfield and Irvin L. Clymer. The most recent and famous vessel to be scrapped by Azcon Metals was the J.B. Ford in 2022. Prior to its scrapping, it was the oldest intact lake freighter still afloat. The 440-foot vessel was built in the winter of 1903-04 and actually visited the Twin Ports in its first year of service, under its original name the Edwin F. Holmes. Its return to Duluth for scrapping was a fitting end. "We saved and sold many, many parts of the J.B. Ford," said Lynn Bergstedt, who recently retired as vice president of Azcon Corporation and general manager of the company's Duluth scrap metal recycling facility. "The ship itself was a riveted hull and was made with what is called pre-atomic steel (produced prior to the detonation of the first atomic bomb). All steel made since then has trace amounts of radiation, so that was interesting." Another interesting project was the scrapping of all but one of the massive sheaves removed from the Duluth Aerial Lift Bridge when the span was rehabilitated in 1999. "They were huge and actually beautiful works of art," Bergstedt said. "I'm glad one was saved." The J.B. Ford, originally named the Edwin F. Holmes in 1903, traversed the Great Lakes for nearly 120 years before its scrapping by Azcon Metals at Rice's Point in 2022. Waterfront niche: Scrapping freighters and lift bridge components PHOTOS / Azcon Metals

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