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| NORTH STAR PORT | WINTER 2026
SEASONS OF YORE
MOVIN' ON UP
"Coal is port's hot commodity " pro-
claimed the News Tribune headline
on Feb. 8, 2001, when the Duluth
Seaway Port Authority announced its
final tonnage tabulation for the 2000
navigation season. At 16,577,060
short tons, coal was the new king,
narrowly surpassing iron ore, which
finished at 16,211,644 tons.
"It seemed inevitable that it would
become number one, at least tempo-
rarily," said the late Davis Helberg,
former executive director of the Port
Authority, in a season summary inter-
view with Ron Brochu.
That inevitability sprouted
from years of consistent tonnage
increases, especially at Superior's
Midwest Energy Terminal (MERC),
which operated as a subsidiary of the
Detroit Edison Company. The 220-acre
coal transshipment facility opened to
much fanfare in 1976, with Wisconsin
Secretary of Local Affairs William
Bechtel predicting it would do much
"to reverse the economic trends in this
2000
| By Jayson Hron
A new
king is crowned
ron ore became Duluth-Superior's king cargo in 1895,
topping coal tonnage for the first time.
Through the ensuing century, only once was iron ore
displaced atop the port's tonnage leaderboard. That occurred
in 1932, amid the Great Depression and one of the "dullest
years" in port history, according to the Duluth News Tribune.
Iron ore reclaimed the top spot in 1933 and remained there through
1999, a 67-year run that ended in 2000.
I
Dignitaries heralded Superior's
new coal transshipment facility
when it opened in 1976.
