CHS to close Twin Ports’ largest grain elevator in August

CHS Inc personnel notified local authorities and the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Expansion that the company plans to permanently close the largest grain elevator in the Twin Ports The facility in Superior will cease operations effective Aug according to the notice provided to the Department of Workforce Maturation CHS has not yet made a constituents announcement or responded to an inquiry from the Duluth Media Group The decision has been decades in the making with the decline in the volume of grain that transits through the Superior terminal announced John Griffith senior vice president of global grain marketing for CHS It s not just a CHS decline Griffith noted It s an entire grain export from the Duluth-Superior port that has declined over the past couple of decades and it definitively reached the point where there wasn t the critical mass of grain movements through the port anymore He declared with the progression of larger unit trains and new facilities grain can be moved to deep-water ports and moved on larger ships that have lower costs for transportation to reach the same customers I think that has been kind of the evolution over time that has brought us to this point after nearly years in the port Griffith stated The intricate part of the decision was the employees Griffith disclosed The closure will impact union employees who will be permanently separated from the company Sept Two additional employees will continue to work until about Dec My heart goes out to them disclosed Rep Angela Stroud D-Ashland who was notified about the closure by company executives Thursday July I understand it I myself just got laid off last year It s extremely disruptive and you know frankly depressing and scary So I understand what they re going through and I really feel for them and I m here to help in any way I possibly can Stroud encouraged anyone who has difficulty with the unemployment system to reach out to her office for assistance It s devastating anytime you lose a substantial employer Stroud noted Exports falling for decades Superior Mayor Jim Paine who was briefed on the closure Thursday morning commented he was advised the reason is tied to the global market and global shipping routes It s obviously bad news especially for those employees and we need to do what we can to take care of them but this is one of the challenges of working with commodities-based industry Paine explained Exports of grain by ship from the Port of Duluth-Superior have been falling for decades down from a high of million metric tons in to tons in the lowest since Related Articles New lawsuit seeks to redraw Wisconsin s congressional maps before midterms Judge recommends that affair against Wisconsin Judge Hannah Dugan proceed St Croix motorcyclist dies of injuries from July crash killed in St Croix County head-on crash Wisconsin Supreme Court s liberal majority strikes down -year-old abortion ban The and shipping seasons were only slight improvements at and tons respectively according to port statistics That is driven in part by a changing arena For example soybeans now go by rail to the West Coast and the geographic area where grains were harvested before being sent to the port for passage has shrunk among other factors And in late fewer ocean-going vessels or salties were reaching Duluth with wind turbine components making it less likely and more expensive to send empty salties into the westernmost port on the Great Lakes Part of the obstacle was the war in Ukraine which shifted European demand for corn and beans from the Black Sea to several Great Lakes ports like Chicago and Toledo Salties discharging in lakes Michigan Erie or Huron are less likely to sail empty to the Port of Duluth-Superior to fill up with grain CHS representatives announced at the time The war continues more than three years after Russia s full-scale invasion of Ukraine a major agricultural producer on the continent Despite lower shipping figures grain has still moved through the Twin Ports by train including at CHS However unlike shipping s tonnage reports the amount of grain moved by rail is not constituents Prospective reuse of facility The CHS decision to cease operations at its Superior terminal is a disappointing blow to the Port of Duluth-Superior and the society as a whole the Duluth Seaway Port Authority wrote in a prepared report Majority this instant 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 Those are really large and effective grain elevators so sitting empty and doing nothing is not its best future Paine noted Stroud announced she urged what would happen to the facility and CHS representatives declared they would be available to help transition the infrastructure CHS owns to any entities that might be interested Related Articles Working Strategies Second Sunday Series Tools to confront an AI world Job scams are on the rise and more people are falling for them Protect yourself with these tips Musk s latest Grok chatbot searches for billionaire mogul s views before answering questions Strike to end Saturday for strength care workers at Stillwater clinic issues not resolved What happens to authorized users when the primary credit card holder dies It s very attainable that another company would have interest in doing very similar initiatives at the facility Griffith announced The facility is certainly still operational so we will look to disposition the facility in the greater part effective and thoughtful way attainable up to and including a sale of the facility Griffith explained This is bad news for that pier and that terminal but in terms of the port overall the port is still growing and the port is still performing very strongly Paine explained We just had that million financing in C Reiss just a little methods over There s still rise and strength in global shipping but it is a moving market system Reporter Jimmy Lovrien contributed to this story