North Star Port

Raised on Minnesota's Mesabi Iron Range, Luigino "Jeno" Francesco Paulucci worked as a wholesale grocer in Hibbing, Minnesota, in the 1940s. He noticed a growing market for prepared Chinese food, and in 1946, he borrowed $2,500 to start canning his own version of chow mein in a quonset hut 40 miles to the southwest in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. His operation quickly outgrew the hut, becoming a national brand: Chun King. Within two years, Paulucci was looking east to expand. With a burgeoning port, nearby celery farms and a $200,000 boost from the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Commission, Paulucci set his sights on Duluth, purchasing the abandoned Universal Match Company facility on Lake Avenue South. It became home to Chun King, soon a multimillion-dollar operation needing strategic supply chain solutions. In advance of the St. Lawrence Seaway's opening in 1959, Paulucci integrated his home port's connectivity and promoted its potential. As his enterprise grew, he recognized how Duluth's waterway could help him circumvent overland transportation challenges. His messaging aligned closely with the beliefs of maritime leader Troy H. Browning, who viewed the opening of the Seaway and advent of containerization as a chance to start a short-sea shipping operation on the Great Lakes. In 1959, low freight rates created the perfect conditions for Paulucci and Browning to collaborate. Paulucci committed to ship huge quantities of Chun King products eastward on Brown- ing 's new service between the upper Great Lakes and Detroit, Michigan, through his subsidiary Detroit-Atlantic Navigation Company (DANCO). DANCO's joint water-truck rates were 15 percent less than typical truck rates and were set in partnership with motor truck companies that would haul its semi-trailer units. Nearly 600 shippers, including Ford Motor Company, petitioned the Inter- state Commerce Commission (ICC) to give Browning a license for the operation. Browning had a number of older ships at his disposal, includ- ing the steamers Norman W. Foy and W. Wayne Hancock, both built in 1906. He also purchased the steamer Peter White, which was idled at Superior, Wisconsin. DANCO invested in 240 trailers and 150 chassis for the ser- vice, partnering with Fruehauf Trailer Company of Detroit and Dorsey Trailer Co. of Elba, Alabama. Fruehauf held many pat- ents and designed early versions of the shipping container. WHEN CHOW MEIN MET THE SEAWAY 12 | NORTH STAR PORT | FALL 2025 PIONEERING SHORT-SEA INTERMODAL SHIPPING IN DULUTH: CANNED CHINESE FOOD AND 'FISHYBACK' TRAILERS "It was probably the first time that chop suey and allied products had been carried as a lake cargo." – Stoddard White, Detroit News marine writer, 1959 By SAM HANKINSON

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