Almost century-old grain terminal at Superior port to close next month

The largest grain terminal at the Port of Duluth-Superior will close by the end of August after almost a century of operation in Superior.

In a closure notice filed with the state earlier this month, CHS Inc. said it planned to permanently close its Superior grain terminal. The closure will result in 23 employees being laid off by Sept. 8 and two more employees being laid off by the end of the year, the notice said.

Minnesota-based CHS did not say why it was closing the terminal in the layoff notice. In a statement, the company said it was focused on “driving growth and efficiency.”

“We remain committed to serving our farmers in the region, providing access to global markets,” the statement reads. “Given shifts in how grain flows through our supply chain, we will be closing our Superior grain terminal by Aug. 31 and reducing our workforce at that location.”

The CHS grain terminal in Superior was built in 1936 and handled around 60 to 70 percent of the port’s total grain volume as of 2023, according to the company. It exported grain to customers in Mexico, Italy, the United Kingdom, Spain, Algeria, Morocco and Venezuela. 

But grain shipments out of the Port of Duluth-Superior have been down in recent years. In the 2022 shipping season, grain shipments out of the port hit their lowest level in more than 100 years. 

John Griffith, the senior vice president of global grain marketing for CHS, told the Minnesota Star Tribune that there was “not a critical mass of grain flowing through the Port of Superior” to support keeping the facility open. He also told the newspaper that there are less expensive and more efficient ways to transport grain than through the locks of the Great Lakes, including shipping it by train to a deep-water port.

“It’s almost 90 years of the facility in the company,” Griffith told the Star Tribune. “It’s a wonderful facility, a great port. It’s now time. Things have changed enough in the world and the movement of grain flow.”

In a statement, the Duluth Seaway Port Authority called the CHS decision to close the terminal a “disappointing blow” to the port and the wider community.

“Most immediately, our thoughts are with the employees who will be affected by this decision,” the port authority’s statement reads. “We will work with the City of Superior to seek solutions that could lead to a more positive outcome, and hopefully, continued use of this grain terminal.”

Officials with the city of Superior did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Griffith with CHS told the Star Tribune that the company had not decided what to do with the facility, but he said selling the property was an option. He told the newspaper the company had already been in contact with someone asking if the terminal was for sale.

According to the Duluth Seaway Port Authority, the Nebraska-based Hansen-Mueller Company finalized an acquisition of a facility at the Superior port in 2022 that would bring a grain-handling facility back into active service after it was shuttered in 2015.