Red Wing Grain and the city of Red Wing, Minnesota, will receive nearly $10.2 million from the Maritime Administration to rebuild the grain company's Mississippi River barge loading system and move key equipment above the floodplain.
The $10,161,985 award comes through the Maritime Administration (MARAD) Port Infrastructure Development Program (PIDP). The U.S. Department of Transportation announced Oct. 27 that the 2026 round would send $498 million to 35 port projects in 19 states.
According to MARAD's list of 2026 awards, the project will reconstruct the Red Wing Grain port facility's barge loading system, conveyors, electric winch system and dust collection systems to increase throughput and elevate the loadout above the 100-year floodplain. The grant also pays for barge access gangways, a floating dock barge and permanent earth berms.
A release from Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minn., said the project will replace a 50-year-old barge loader and a 70-year-old winch. The upgrades are expected to speed loading, extend truck unloading hours for farmers during harvest and large crop years, and improve worker safety by reducing time spent on barges and exposure to barge cable.
"Red Wing Grain purchases soybeans and corn from over 1,200 farmers across the city of Red Wing and ships over 500 river barges of grain per year," Craig said.
The terminal has been working against its own equipment. During a June 2025 visit by Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Red Wing Grain said the facility, built in 1955, takes in grain twice as fast as it can load it onto barges. The company said then that more than 47% of its grain moves by barge, and that the planned improvements would let it load barges in nearly half the time.
Red Wing Grain and the city applied for the grant together, according to Klobuchar's office.
