The Lake Carriers' Association announced Wednesday that iron ore shipments on the Great Lakes totaled 5,370,949 net tons (nt) in November, an increase of 6.8 percent over October, and an improvement of nearly 9 percent compared to a year ago.
Loadings were also slightly ahead of the month's five-year average. November loading at US Great Lakes ports increased 10 percent compared to a year ago. Shipments from Canadian ports were off by a fraction.
Year-to-date the ore trade on the Great Lakes stands at 49.4 million nt, an increase of 76 percent compared to the same point last year. However, the end-of-November total is still 2.3 percent off the five-year average for the January-November timeframe. Shipments from US ports are up 77 percent compared to a year ago, while loadings at Canadian ports are 67 percent ahead of last year's pace.