Turbine Components Lift Shipments At Port Of Duluth

Thanks to shipments of wind turbine components, May was a busy month for U.S. ports along the Great Lakes Seaway System. In fact, the Duluth Seaway Port Authority says the 2015 shipping season is shaping up to be a strong year for cargo.
‘Multiple shiploads of wind turbine components are scheduled to move through Duluth this year,’ Â explains Vanta Coda, the port's executive director. The season began in May with the arrival of two ships carrying a total of nearly 140 wind turbine blades.
‘Our Canadian and European trading partners kept U.S. Great Lakes ports extremely busy during the month of May,’ explains Betty Sutton, administrator. ‘Over 100 vessels arrived in the Great Lakes Seaway System carrying cargoes of windmill components, aluminum, clay, steel and iron ore. Our ports are certainly ramping up for what looks to be another robust navigation season.’
Duluth is a strategically located port and uses the Great Lakes navigation system to bypass road and rail congestion. On May 27, the Port of Duluth broke ground on a $17.7 million dock redevelopment project that will further enhance the port's heavy-lift and project cargo handling capacity. That project is slated for completion in fall 2016.