Shipments of iron ore on the Great Lakes totaled 60.3 million tons in 2017, an increase of 10.9 percent over 2016 and the highest total recorded since 2012, according to a report today from the Lake Carriers’ Association. The 2017 ore float also bettered the trade’s 5-year average by 4.6 percent.
Loadings at US ports totaled 55.75 million tons, an increase of 13.4 percent, this despite the fact that Escanaba, Michigan, on the north shore of Lake Michigan shipped its final cargo on April 18. The iron ore mine that shipped through Escanaba, the Empire Mine in Palmer, Michigan, closed because it had exhausted its mineable reserves. Following that, all domestically mined iron ore had to transit the locks at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, in order to feed blast furnaces in Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. The Lake Superior ore ports that ship through the Soo Locks saw their loadings increase by 9.9 million tons, or 23.6 percent
Shipments from Canadian ports in the St. Lawrence Seaway totaled 4.6 million tons in 2017, a decrease of 12.4 percent compared to 2016.