Shipments of iron ore on the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway totaled 2,468,706 tons in January, an increase of 14.4 percent compared to a year ago, according to a report today from the Lake Carriers’ Association (LCA). However, shipments were 10.3 percent below the month’s 5-year average.
The LCA also announced the start of the 2017 Great Lakes shipping season, commencing with the U.S.-flag tug/barge unit DOROTHY ANN/PATHFINDER initiating the shuttle of iron ore—about 15,000 tons mined from Minnesota’s Mesabi Iron Range—from Cleveland Bulk Terminal to the ArcelorMittal steel mill at the end of the navigable portion of the Cuyahoga River this week.
The locks at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, that connect Lake Superior to the lower four Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence Seaway reopen on March 25. The Soo Locks typically handle more than 80 million tons of cargo in a season, about 80 percent of which transits the Poe Lock, the largest chamber at “The Soo.”
In 2016, US-flag Great Lakes freighters moved 83.3 million tons of cargo. Iron ore for steel production remained the fleet’s primary cargo, 44.1 million tons. Limestone loads for construction and steel production totaled 21.2 million tons. Coal cargos, most of which were for power generation, totaled 13 million tons. Other cargos included cement, salt, sand and grain.