Market Matters Blog           07/14 12:21

   In a Blow to Port of Duluth-Superior, CHS Shutters Their Grain Terminal

   CHS Inc. announced it is permanently closing its Superior, Wisconsin, grain 
terminal, the largest in the Port of Duluth-Superior.

Mary Kennedy
DTN Basis Analyst

   In a blow to the Port of Duluth-Superior (Twin Ports), CHS confirmed in the 
media that it is ceasing operations at its Superior, Wisconsin, grain terminal 
by the end of August 2025.

   The Twin Ports CHS grain terminal was built in 1936 in Superior, Wisconsin. 
It is the largest grain shipper in the Superior port, handling about 60% to 70% 
of the port's total grain volume, according to the CHS website. There are 504 
concrete silos and 15 steel tanks that make up that storage capacity.

   CHS Superior has 18.5 million bushels of storage capacity and loading 
capacity of 80,000 bushels per hour (bph), according to Sosland Publishing's 
2025 Grain & Milling Annual.

   John Griffith, the Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota-based company's senior 
vice president of global grain marketing, told the Minnesota Star Tribune, 
"There's not critical mass of grain flowing through the Port of Superior, or 
our facility in particular, that supports the facility. There are more 
efficient and less expensive ways to transport grain. Shuttle trains can carry 
grain to deep-water facilities that can accommodate ships larger than those 
that travel through the locks of the Great Lakes."

   In a statement provided to DTN, Duluth Seaway Port Authority said, "The CHS 
decision to cease operations at its Superior terminal is a disappointing blow 
to the Port of Duluth-Superior and the community as a whole. Most immediately, 
our thoughts are with the employees who will be affected by this decision. 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."

   Griffith told the Star Tribune that CHS has not decided what to do with the 
facility, but a sale of the property wasn't off the table. In fact, he said 
someone inquired earlier Friday about whether it was for sale.

   That has actually happened before, when a shuttered elevator in the Twin 
Ports was sold and brought back to life. In June 2022, Elevator A, previously 
owned by General Mills, became the second Hansen-Mueller-owned grain complex in 
the Twin Ports, joining the Daisy Elevator and Elevator M complex in Superior, 
Wisconsin.

   Grain Elevator A is 185 feet tall and has storage capacity of 3.5 million 
bushels. Consolidated Elevator Co. built the structure in 1908, using ceramic 
tile and brick to replace a wooden elevator that had previously stood on the 
site since 1894. It was then purchased by General Mills in 1943.

   Nebraska-based Hansen-Mueller planned to bring the facility back into 
operation in time for the 2022 harvest season. The facility would import and 
export primarily small grains grown in the United States and Canada to domestic 
and foreign destinations, according to a June 13, 2022, press release from 
Duluth Seaway Port Authority.

   After upgrades and general maintenance were made since that elevator was 
purchased, on June 6, 2023, beet-pulp pellets from Grain Elevator A were loaded 
on the Netherlands-bound vessel Maxima in the Duluth-Superior Harbor, a return 
to service for the century-old elevator that hadn't seen a ship since 2013.

   "It's been a long road and it's culminating today, starting what we hope 
will be a very long run here of this kind of activity in the port," Josh 
Hansen, president of the Omaha-based grain merchants told the Minnesota Star 
Tribune on June 6, 2023.

   Mary Kennedy can be reached at mary.kennedy@dtn.com 

   Follow her on social platform X @MaryCKenn




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