Shipping Facts

Shipping Facts and Lingo

The Port of Duluth-Superior welcomes hundreds of vessels each year. Here are some fun facts about this ever-growing industry, a lifeline to doing business with the entire globe.

Did You Know:

The Port of Duluth-Superior welcomes around 900 vessels each year and handles an average of 35 million short tons of cargo every year.

It’s 2,342 miles from the Atlantic Ocean to Duluth.

Iron ore and coal account for about 80% of the Port of Duluth-Superior’s total tonnage.

The St. Lawrence Seaway provides access from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes and transports 80% of the iron ore used in US steel production and creates more than 1/3 of the continent’s gross national product.

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shipping lingo

There are two main types of ships that visit the Port regularly:

–           Lakers: bulk carriers specially built for the Great Lakes

–           Salties: Seaway-max vessels

Bow: front end of the boat
Stern: rear end of the boat
Underway: when a boat is moving
Amidships: central part of a boating vessel
Topside: moving from the lower deck of a boat to an upper deck
Quarters: living and sleeping areas of a vessel
Head: toilet facilities
Hull: the structural body of the boat that rests in the water
Dry Weight: weight of the boat without fuel and freshwater
MAYDAY: a radio distress call

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Be sure to visit the Port of Duluth-Superior to catch this thriving industry in action.