Iron ore shipments in U.S. bottoms totaled 5 million tons in November, an increase of nearly 17 percent. However, as has been stated before, increases in the ore float are not as impressive as they seem. LTV Steel was in its death throes a year ago; ISG has relit most of LTV's blast furnaces with a resulting increase in demand for iron ore. For the season, U.S.-Flag iron ore cargos stand at 41.8 million tons, a decrease of 1.7 percent.
Continued strong demand for western, low-sulfur coal pushed U.S.-Flag coal cargos to 2.7 million tons in November, an increase of 8.2 percent. The 19.7 million tons carried through November represent a slight increase over 2001's end-of-November total.
Weather-related delays suffered by the small and mid-sized vessels in the stone trade caused loadings of that commodity in U.S.-Flag lakers to slip 15.8 percent to 2.8 million tons. For the season, this trade is down 2.7 percent and reflects the season-long sluggishness in the construction industry.
U.S.-FLAG CARRIAGE
NOVEMBER AND SEASON-TO-DATE: 2002 - 2001
(net tons)
Commodity | November 2002 | November 2001 | S-T-D 2002 | S-T-D 2001 |
| Iron Ore | ||||
| Direct Shipments | 4,624,915 | 4,029,459 | 39,897,268 | 39,479,363 |
| Transshipments | 395,983 | 266,351 | 1,941,581 | 3,094,732 |
Total - Iron Ore | 5,020,898 | 4,295,810 | 41,838,849 | 42,574,095 |
| Coal | ||||
| Lake Superior Ports | 1,827,614 | 1,512,520 | 12,641,033 | 12,476,289 |
| Lake Michigan Ports | 175,964 | 269,723 | 1,911,799 | 2,027,860 |
| Lake Erie Ports | 687,133 | 702,789 | 5,193,472 | 5,006,779 |
Total - Coal | 2,690,711 | 2,485,032 | 19,746,304 | 19,510,928 |
| Limestone | 2,818,957 | 3,350,259 | 24,619,893 | 25,311,457 |
| Cement | 346,870 | 360,787 | 3,372,149 | 3,694,492 |
| Salt | 44,239 | 159,656 | 543,238 | 753,300 |
| Sand | 31,807 | 85,514 | 216,166 | 593,522 |
| Grain | 33,001 | 48,778 | 297,152 | 292,439 |
| Totals | 10,986,483 | 10,785,836 | 90,633,751 | 92,730,233 |
In addition to the U.S.-Flag Lakes operators who comprise Lake Carriers' Association, this survey includes Andrie, Inc.
(cement only), Great Lakes Associates (grain), Hannah Marine Corp. (cement only), Pere Marquette Shipping Company and
Upper Lakes Towing Company, Inc. (both various dry-bulk cargos).
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DATE OF PUBLICATION: December 17, 2002
