Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/1546270
hen the Midwest Energy Resources Company coal terminal in Superior closed June 30, it shuttered a dock that once loaded 22 million tons a year. Coal first crossed Head-of-the-Lakes docks in 1871, climbing to a peak of 22.1 million tons in 2008, nearly half the port's total tonnage that year, then eventually sliding to 4.7 million tons in 2025. This season, through June 30, coal tonnage dwindled to only 237,691 tons. Across the Great Lakes, coal shipments on U.S.-flag lakers fell to 6.5 million tons in 2025, down 12 percent year over year and nearly a quarter below the five-year average, according to the Lake Carriers' Association. On Lake Superior, laker coal fell to 4.4 million tons in 2025, the lowest in six years. Through the St. Lawrence Seaway, coal dropped 16.3 percent in 2025 and another 13.7 percent through June 2026, becoming the fastest- shrinking cargo on the Seaway System. In a sharp contrast, coal usage elsewhere is climbing. Global coal demand reached a record 8.85 billion tons in 2025, the International Energy Agency reported, and coal remains the single largest source of the world's electricity. Asian seaborne thermal coal imports hit a six-month high in June 2026, up 22 percent from a year earlier, as China, Japan and South Korea bought more to offset natural gas supplies disrupted by conflict in the Middle East . Worldwide coal s h i p m e n t s r o s e 1 4 percent in June 2026. T h e two t re n d s a re l a r g e l y i n d e p e n d e n t . Coal that sailed from Superior primarily fed U.S. and Canadian power plants, not the export terminals that supply Asia's grids. Nearly all U.S. export coal leaves the country from East and Gulf Coast ports, not the Great Lakes. Coal's rise overseas and contraction on the Great Lakes reflect different markets responding to different forces. For Duluth-Superior, coal's retreat is neither sudden nor isolated. It unfolded over decades, tracking the wider shift of North American utilities away from coal- fired generation. The MERC closure simply marks the point where that trend became especially visible on the waterfront, even as, half a world away, demand for the same fuel approaches new highs. 6 | NORTH STAR PORT | SUMMER 2026 SEASON UPDATE Coal trends in contrast PHOTO / Paul Scinocca Thousand-foot lake freighter American Century loads coal at the Midwest Energy Resources Company terminal in Superior, Wis., on May 28, 2026. The coal transshipment facility closed a month later, on June 30, 2026.