Shipments of low sulfur coal from Superior Midwest Energy Terminal (SMET) during the 2001 navigation season totaled 16.6 million net tons, another record for the facility. SMET's season ended on January 2, 2002 when the ALGOWOOD took 29,411 tons of low-sulfur coal to Ontario Power in Nanticoke. 2001 thus marks the sixth season in a row that SMET's loadings into vessels have achieved a new benchmark.
It is significant that SMET increased its loadings despite a decrease in the number of vessel calls. The reason for this seemingly contradictory development is the lack of iron ore cargos. With unfair trade in steel pushing several American steelmakers to the brink of extinction, some 1,000-footers increased their participation in the western coal trade.
2001 Navigation Season | 2000 Navigation Season | ||
Loadings | Cargos | Loadings | Cargos |
16,637,682 | 347 | 16,530,545 | 365 |