The first coal totals of the young navigation season show mixed results. Shipments of low-sulfur coal from Superior Midwest Energy Terminal totaled 414,705 net tons, a decrease of 165,000 tons. Coal loadings at the KCBX terminal in South Chicago totaled 86,586 net tons. Last year, KCBX did not ship its first coal cargo until April.
Coal shipments from Lake Erie ports declined 20 percent to 950,000 tons. The decline was not unexpected. In 2000, the Lake Erie coal trade resumed on March 3; this year, the first coal cargo was not loaded until March 17.
March Lake Erie Coal Loadings By Dock
(net tons)
Port | 2001 | 2000 |
| Toledo | 24,242 | 113,168 |
| Sandusky | 213,646 | 112,828 |
| Ashtabula | 340,772 | 611,475 |
| Conneaut | 370,872 | 348,972 |
| Total | 949,532 | 1,186,443 |