IARN — As a child growing up in Minnesota, we made several trips to Duluth. It is a travel destination for people from all over the country. The city is at the start of the famed “North Shore Drive” and near many natural attractions. However, this isn’t a pitch to drive tourism to my home state. This is also a discussion about the city’s other function, that is overlooked by many.
Duluth is the furthest in-land international seaport in the world. It sits at the terminus of the St. Lawrence Seaway and the Great Lakes Chain. From Duluth, as well as other ports all along the Great Lakes, products move all over the world without any need for transfer to ocean-going vessels. While iron ore makes up a large percentage of the materials moved, grain is a close second.
The United Soybean Board is looking at how much more of an economical advantage it could be for American farmers to see more use made of the St. Lawrence Seaway for soybean exports. Derek Haigwood is a Director on the United Soybean Board, and he talks about an agreement reached between the Soy Transportation Coalition and the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation. It will come with a fifty percent reduction in tolls for soy.
For more on this story, visit the Iowa Agribusiness Radio Network.
Ship enters Duluth, Minnesota Harbor. (Wikimedia Commons)
