WASHINGTON, June 13, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The Great
Lakes Seaway Partnership reports overall gains for the St. Lawrence
Seaway in traditional cargoes through the month of May, with
shipments of coal, grain, liquid bulk and general cargoes totaling
4.67 million metric tons (mt) – keeping Seaway traffic above the
five-year average.
Year-to-date total cargo shipments for the period from
March 29, 2018 through May 31, 2018 were 7.866 million metric tons, a
decrease of 3.71 percent compared to 2017 figures. Iron ore
shipments were down 24.8 percent. While the dry bulk category
decreased 18.5 percent, shipments of pig iron went up 324.4
percent, stone increased 161.8 percent and ores & concentrates
cargoes were up 97.3 percent. The Seaway's 2018 shipping season
began almost a week later than the 2017 shipping season.
Top performing cargoes through May
2018 include:
- Coal – 649,000 mt; a 43.4 percent increase
- Grain – 2,204,000 mt; an 8.58 percent increase
- Liquid Bulk – 1,096,000 mt; a 19.4 percent increase
- Pig Iron – 61,000 mt; a
324.4 percent increase
- Steel Slabs – 205,000 mt; a 100.6 percent increase
The U.S. ports of Milwaukee
(Wis.), Oswego (N.Y.) and Toledo
(Ohio) showed strong activity thus
far this year.
"May has been a month of steady traffic with steel arriving at a
pace comparable to recent strong years," says Jeff Fleming, spokesperson for Port Milwaukee. "Some of the same ships
bringing steel have made the short hop to the silos in Port Milwaukee's inner harbor where they have
loaded locally grown grain for export."
A similar demand is opening up a new maritime market for U.S.
grain that has not existed at the Port of Oswego for over 40 years,
says William Scriber, Acting
Executive Director of the Port of Oswego Authority. "We are
finishing a joint project with Purdue Agribusiness to start
tripling our grain exports to 60,000 metric tons for 2018 and
increasing to 75,000-80,000 metric tons in 2019," says Scriber.
Nearly 2.5 million tons of cargo have passed through the Port of
Toledo in the 2018 shipping
season. Coal and grain are outpacing 2017 year-to-date results
while other commodities are not far behind. "We have seen a lot of
international grain movement this year," says Joe Cappel, Vice President of Business
Development for the Toledo-Lucas
County Port Authority.
Learn More: www.greatlakesseaway.org
Contact:
Eric Kogelschatz
216-609-3740
eric@sharkandminnow.com
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SOURCE The Great Lakes Seaway Partnership