Heavy Essar equipment cargo arrives in the Northland

Essar Steel Minnesota has received a delivery of grinding mill shells through the Port of Duluth.

Grinding mills are used to reduce the size of the taconite ore from a few inches in size to what would look like beach sand. The mill shells made by Citic Censa under contract with Farnell Thompson weigh between 50 and 60 tons each.

C.H. Robinson Project Logistics of Eden Prairie provided the logistics for the voyage that started at Vigo, Spain on May 15 and arrived in Duluth Tuesday via the Dutch-flagged Alamosborg. On Wednesday, the mill shells will be unloaded onto flatbed trucks for delivery to the Essar Steel Minnesota in Nashwauk.

"This is the first of several large equipment shipments expected to arrive over the summer as Essar continues to make significant progress toward startup in mid-2013,” Chief of Projects Steve Rutherford said in a news release.