US-flag Great Lakes Shipping Buoyant in September

U.S.-flag Great Lakes freighters (lakers) moved 10.1 million tons of cargo in September, an increase of 10.7 percent compared to a year ago, the Lake Carriers’ Association (LCA) reported. September’s shipments also bettered the month’s long-term average by 3.1 percent, or 300,000 tons.

LCA said iron ore cargos for steelmaking totaled 4.9 million tons, an increase of 14 percent compared to a year ago, while Coal loadings approached 1.9 million tons, an increase of 6.1 percent, and Limestone cargos increased 10.1 percent to 2.7 million tons.

Year-over-year U.S.-flag cargos total 60.5 million tons, an increase of 2.7 percent over the same point in 2016. Iron ore shipments have increased 7.1 percent to 32.4 million tons.  Coal cargos have increased 85,000 tons to 9.4 million tons.  The 15.3 million tons of aggregate, fluxstone and scrubber stone shipped have pulled that trade within 3.3 percent of last year’s end-of-September total.