Coal rounds out the "Big 3" trades for U.S.-Flag lakers. Shipments generally top 20 million tons in a typical navigation season.
There are two types of coal hauled on the Lakes: Metallurgical or "met" coal for steel production, and steam coal for power generation.
There is another distinction: Eastern and Western coal. Eastern coal is mined in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Ohio and Illinois and shipped from Lake Erie and Lake Michigan ports. Western coal is mined in Montana and Wyoming and then railed to Superior, Wisconsin, for loading into vessels. The coal trade begins in late March and generally wraps up by years end. The coal trade perhaps best exemplifies the benefits of inter-modalism. There is not a single large coal mine anywhere near a U.S. port on the Lakes. American railroads, in other instances fierce competitors for cargo carried by lakers, deliver the coal to Lakes ports for final shipment by vessel to the customer.
Low-sulfur coal is the fastest growing trade for U.S.-Flag lakers. Since its inception in 1976, the U.S.-Flag western coal trade has grown to more than 13 million tons a year. Pictured above is a 1,000-footer discharging western coal directly into a receiving silo at a major power plant along the St. Clair River.
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