Battered by dumped foreign steel, American mills again reduced their iron ore requirements and as a result, U.S.-Flag carriage on the Great Lakes fell behind last year's pace for the third month in a row. Iron ore loadings in U.S. bottoms in October fell 4 percent to 5.9 million tons and produced a 1 percent decrease in total U.S.-Flag carriage. With this third straight fall-off, the U.S.-Float is now only 2.6 percent ahead of last year's pace and what seemed certain to be a new modern-day record season is now becoming a question mark.
The coal and stone trades remained at last year's levels, and for the season, stone is a healthy 6.6 percent ahead of last year's end-of-October tally (26.3 million net tons versus 24.7). The cement trade in U.S.-Flag lakers is up roughly 110,000 tons.
The U.S.-Flag salt trade is experiencing one of its best seasons in recent years. Loadings topped the 1 million ton mark in October and with two months of navigation yet to go, will surely reach its highest level this decade.
| Commodity | October 1998 |
October 1997 |
Season to Date 1998 |
Season to Date 1997 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Iron Ore (a) | 5,879,660 | 6,126,458 | 49,479,763 | 48,039,430 |
| Coal - Western | 1,668,670 | 1,634,101 | 10,885,348 | 10,984,577 |
| Coal, Coke - Eastern | 1,091,911 | 1,150,409 | 7,006,915 | 7,629,107 |
| Total - Coal | 2,760,581 | 2,784,510 | 17,892,263 | 18,613,684 |
| Limestone, Gypsum | 3,780,813 | 3,767,139 | 26,294,154 | 24,658,507 |
| Cement | 460,092 | 455,787 | 3,437,409 | 3,324,263 |
| Salt | 217,544 | 83,844 | 1,076,528 | 701,165 |
| Sand | 29,073 | 30,723 | 234,300 | 254,905 |
| Grain | 56,158 | 57,780 | 278,975 | 582,505 |
| Totals - All Commodities | 13,183,921 | 13,306,241 | 98,693,392 | 96,174,459 |
(a) Includes Lorain/Cleveland transshipments
Notes: Given the limited number of gypsum producers (two), that commodity must be combined with limestone to insure confidentiality. Cargo totals represent the members of Lake Carriers' Association and the following: Great Lakes Associates; Upper Lakes Barge; Upper Lakes Towing; Andrie, Inc. (cement only); and Merce Transportation.
The tracking of liquid-bulk cargos has been suspended pending implementation of a new reporting system.