DULUTH – The Twin Ports’ oldest and largest grain elevator, which holds up to 70% of this region’s total grain volume, will close at the end of next month, a CHS spokesperson confirmed Friday morning.
The Superior Telegram reported that it will cease operations on August 31, a closure that affects 23 union employees.
The Superior Terminal, which was built in 1936, can hold 18 million bushels within its 504 concrete silos and 15 steel tanks.
The grain kept at the terminal at 41 Dock, Superior, Wis., is exported from here to Algeria, Italy, Mexico, Morocco, Spain, the United Kingdom and Venezuela, the company said in 2023. At the time, it was loading up to 40 vessels a year.
Grain shipments peaked in the 1970s and have continued to dip over the decades. In 1978, more than 10 million net tons of grain left the port. By 2024, it was just more than 800,000 net tons. In 2022, the amount of grain leaving the port dipped to a historic low not seen since 1890. It was a 20.3% dip from the previous year.
At the time, executive director of the Duluth Seaway Port Authority described grain as a dynamic commodity.
“And the port faced a number of headwinds in 2022, including two years of tightening grain supplies worldwide, further exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, a very strong dollar, extremely elevated transportation costs and competition from other countries’ less expensive wheat,” Deb DeLuca said at the time.
Minnesota Star Tribune reporter Brooks Johnson contributed to this report.
