Iron Ore Shipments from Superior Wisconsin

[Guest]

Its not like there moving it hours away minutes away is more accurate so there isn't much cost difference .

[Guest]

Is it because of the railroad that serve those mines? BNSF with their ore dock in Superior?

[garbear]

What is the logic behind iron ore mined at Hibbing and Keewatin Minnesota being moved to Superior, Wisconsin for loading aboard ships? It seems like it would make more sense to ship it through docks in Minnesota rather than cross state lines to Wisconsin.

Depends on what railroads service the mines. Those 2 mines are serviced by BNSF.

[DCN]

It mainly has to do with what railroad serves the taconite plant as to where the ore is shipped from. BNSF railroad owns the docks in Superior and must service the mines in Hibbing and Keewatin. It is probably cheaper for the producer/customer to move this ore entirely on BNSF assets even though it crosses state lines (which incurs no cost) than interchange the ore to ship through a Canadian National owned dock in Duluth or Two Harbors, Minnesota which would probably involve some amount of interchange and handling fees by the railroads.

In the old days of natural iron ore being shipped on the lakes there were hundreds of grades of ore being moved and the transfer of ore between railroads was incredibly common in order to make up the exact customer requirements needed for each ship load of ore going through the docks. When taconite pellets came along, despite there being differences in pellets made by different manufacturers, the pellet itself can be tailor made for a customer and this interchange was largely eliminated.

DCN

[sam]

Hibbing and Keewatin are on the west side of the Mesaba Iron Range, so it would not be but maybe 10 miles past Duluth. Also, in older times when chute docks were used in Allouez and West Duluth, they might have just been to busy to accommodate competing mining companies. In addition, they are two different railways, too.

[Guest]

What is the logic behind iron ore mined at Hibbing and Keewatin Minnesota being moved to Superior, Wisconsin for loading aboard ships? It seems like it would make more sense to ship it through docks in Minnesota rather than cross state lines to Wisconsin.