Despite the hubbub surrounding a long winter, heavy ice and late start to the Great Lakes shipping season, cargo moved on the St. Lawrence Seaway system this season already has surpassed 2013 levels.
According to Seaway data released today, total cargo moved from March through the end of August hit 20-million metric tons, up 3 percent over the same period last year.
Shipping officials said the strong recovery has been fuelled by grain exports, increases in road salt inventories for Great Lakes municipalities, and an influx of specialty steel and other metals for the automotive and construction industries. Construction materials such as stone and cement have also been in strong demand.
Total grain shipments, both U.S. and Canadian, hit 5.6 million metric tons, up 73 percent over last year. U.S. grain so far this season has totaled 630,000 metric tons, up 13 percent. General cargo tonnage - including specialty steel imports as well as aluminum and oversized project cargo like machinery or wind turbines - has topped 1.5 million metric tons, up 66 percent. Year-to-date dry bulk cargo totaled 4.9 million metric tons, with strong increases in construction materials such as stone and cement, as well as road salt.
Vanta Coda, executive director of the Duluth Seaway Port Authority, said that by mid-summer, cargo shipments through the Port of Duluth-Superior had rebounded significantly after the ice-bound start of the season.
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“The Port has shown strong gains, particularly in general cargo handling and iron ore shipments,” Coda said in a statement.
“In fact, one-third of the iron ore that shipped out of Duluth-Superior through July was bound for Canadian steel mills or transloaded at a Canadian port on the Seaway for overseas export,’’ Coda said. “At our Port Terminal in Duluth, we’ve welcomed six ships from Europe loaded with mining equipment, wind turbine components and other energy-related cargoes, as well as a Kaolin clay shipment from Brazil…and another half-dozen general cargo shipments are on the books for fall.”
