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The first cruise ship of the season arrived in Duluth this past week after traversing Lake Superior—and for the first time since cruise ships returned to Duluth in 2022, the giant, nearly 400-foot long ship was able to dock directly on shore, behind the city’s convention center. 

For the past several years, cruise ships have had to anchor off shore in Duluth. Passengers were ferried to land, and back to the ship, on smaller boats. 

Now, after a $22 million project to rebuild the seawall behind the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center, or DECC, ships can tie up and passengers can hop right on to a newly expanded pedestrian walkway. 

“It just entirely changes the view down here, and this is going to change that summer visitor experience for people who are not even on cruise ships,” said DECC executive director Dan Hartman.

It creates “that more port city feel, that a lot of people get excited about, and this is just not your standard Midwest view," Hartman added.

More importantly, ships can now begin and end their trips in Duluth—rather than just stopping in town for the day. That generates substantial more economic activity for the city. 

The Viking Octantis dropped off 374 passengers in Duluth early Tuesday morning, June 3; it’s the final destination in their cruise around the Great Lakes. And the ship picked up the same number of passengers who were departing from Duluth on a Great Lakes cruise. 

Those passengers stay in hotels, eat in restaurants, visit area attractions, and fly in and out of the Duluth airport. 

“That’s really what we're aiming to do, is to create capacity for more visits like that,” said Duluth Economic Development Agency executive director Tricia Hobbs.

“That’s not only good for our community, it's good for the airport, it's good for Canal Park, it's good for the other neighborhoods that folks get to visit. It's good for the hotels,” Hobbs said.

Nine cruise ships are scheduled to visit Duluth this year. A study conducted by researchers at the University of Minnesota Duluth in 2021 estimated that the cruise ship industry could add roughly $1 million to the region’s economy if seven cruise ships visited annually. That figure rises to more than $10 million if 40 ships on average visited every year. 

The seawall reconstruction was made possible with more than $18 million in state funding. It replaced infrastructure that dated back to 1885 “that was in remarkably decrepit condition,” said Jim Filby Williams, Duluth’s director of property, parks and libraries.

The project required 50-foot lengths of sheet piling that was sunk 20 feet into the sediment. The lake depth is dredged to 24 feet deep to allow the huge ships to tie up next to shore. 

It’s part of a broader effort to bring more pedestrian life to the area between the convention center and Lake Superior, with the iconic view of the aerial lift bridge in the background, said Duluth Mayor Roger Reinert. 

“You’re going to see a space again that really is about people” Reinert said. “It really is about folks being able to, at their pace, enjoy what is the most prime real estate in all of Duluth.”

Dan Kraker

Author

The first cruise ship of the season arrived in Duluth this past week, signaling the start of a season that boosts the city’s economy and transforms the view along the lakefront. 

The Viking Octantis in the Duluth Superior Harbor early in the morning

Derek Montgomery for MPR News | 2022

A tender from Viking Octantis rests next to a Vista Fleet vessel

Cruise ships return to Duluth for the summer, to a newly rebuilt shore

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