With many customers needing to build their winter stockpiles, the Lakes coal trade totaled 5.1 million net tons in November, an increase of nearly 22 percent compared to the corresponding period last season. The coal availability problems that so impacted loadings at Lake Erie ports for most of the season appear to be resolved. As a result, shipments from Lake Erie rose 34 percent, or 730,000 tons.
Although Superior Midwest Energy Terminal saw its November shipments slip slightly, the facility's season-end tally will represent a new record for the 8th year in a row.
November's strong performance pushed coal's season-to-date total to 38,251,088 tons, an increase of 2.3 percent compared to last season's end-of-November total.
Shipping Port | November 2001 | November 2000 | Season-To-Date 2001 | Season-To-Date 2000 |
| Superior | 1,661,715 | 1,741,888 | 15,472,891 | 14,549,711 |
| Thunder Bay | 317,604 | 48,629 | 1,454,250 | 561,102 |
| South Chicago | 286,791 | 288,131 | 2,261,434 | 2,066,198 |
| Toledo | 393,913 | 554,201 | 4,139,971 | 5,281,721 |
| Sandusky | 759,570 | 309,701 | 4,224,240 | 3,576,019 |
| Ashtabula | 679,185 | 610,546 | 5,111,634 | 5,968,451 |
| Conneaut | 1,048,011 | 676,433 | 5,586,668 | 5,389,100 |
Totals | 5,146,789 | 4,229,529 | 38,251,088 | 37,392,302 |