Duluth Seaway Port Authority Acquires Duluth Lake Port Dock

The Duluth Seaway Port Authority has made a major acquisition of a port dock off Rice’s Point for nearly a million dollars.

DULUTH, Minn. – The Duluth Seaway Port Authority has made a major acquisition of a port dock off Rice’s Point for nearly a million dollars.

The Duluth Seaway Port Authority announced this week it has acquired the Duluth Lake Port Dock off Rice’s Point for $950,000.

The Port Authority acquired the dock from private investors and includes the land, structures, seaway slip, and 3,000 feet of rail connected to the Clure Public Marine Terminal and the CN Terminal.

Currently, Duluth Cargo Connect operates the rails and shop building on the site while the group JF Brennan also leases some of the site to store material and equipment for its maritime engineering operations.

The plan is for those groups to continue working there as the port works to expand the site.

“There are a finite number of properties that fit that description so when it became available, we viewed it as an opportunity to revitalize a valuable industrial asset that really at the present time wasn’t being used to its fullest potential,” said Jayson Hron, the communications and marketing director of the Duluth Seaway Port Authority.

While the project of acquiring the dock will benefit the economy, it’s hard to say how as the port authority is currently in the initial planning stages of the acquisition.

“It made a very valuable asset, one that has a lot of good things going for it,” said Hron. “It’s just kind of laying fallow right now and if we can revitalize it, we can really put those assets to work in a way that’ll benefit the region economically.”

The expectation is that it will take around 10 years to fully modernize the dock. In the near future, port leadership says they do plan to demolish the grain elevator structures at the site or use them as storage facilities. They also plan to rehabilitate the pier’s dock walls.