The Lake Carriers' Association (LCA) reported that both iron ore and coal shipments passing through the US Great Lakes registered declines in August.
Iron ore shipments totaled 6,551,329 tons in August, a 7 percent decline from July, but still up 9 percent versus last year. August loadings were also up 24.6 percent compared to the five-year average for August. The decline in August was a result of a more than 20 percent drop in iron ore loadings from Canadian ports. Shipments from US ports were 5.8 million tons--a 14.2 percent increase from August 2010.
Through August the iron ore trade stands at 36.7 million tons, an increase of 9.1 percent compared to a year ago, and 9.4 percent better than the five-year average for the January-August timeframe.
Shipments of coal on the Great Lakes showed a more measured decline, falling from 3,087,930 net tons (nt) in July to 2,956,930 nt in August, but fell almost 25 percent (959,000 nt) compared to a year ago.
The coal trade on the Great lakes continues to suffer overall, and year-to-date, coal shipments total 15,656,348 nt, a decrease of 16.2 percent compared to a year ago.