Coal shipments on US Great Lakes slip 21.8 percent

Friday, 15 July 2011 02:26:30 (GMT+2)

According to the Lake Carriers' Association, shipments of coal for steelmaking and power generation on the US Great Lakes totaled 3 million tons in June--a 2.8 percent increase over May, but a 21.8 percent decline over June 2010. And compared to June's five-year average, loadings were down 25.6 percent. Year-to-date, the coal trade stands at 9.6 million tons, a decrease of 10 percent compared to a year ago. Shipments are also nearly 30 percent off the 5-year average for the first half of the year.

Shipments of iron ore, on the other hand, continued to increase in June, totaling 6.3 million tons--an increase of 2.7 percent month-on-month and a 6.4 percent increase from June 2010. Iron ore loadings in June were also up 10 percent. Shipments from US ports totaled 5,559,796 tons, an increase of 6.3 percent compared to a year ago. Loadings at Canadian ports rose 11.7 percent to 644,579 nt. Through June the iron ore trade stands at 23.1 million tons, an increase of 6.7 percent compared to a year ago, and 8.7 percent better than the 5-year average for the first half of the year.

As SteelOrbis previously reported, total dry-bulk trade on the Great Lakes stood at 10 million in June--up 5.3 percent from May but down 3.3 percent compared to June 2010.