The deluge of dumped foreign steel again reduced U.S.-Flag carriage on the Great Lakes in November. The U.S.-Flag iron ore float fell 7.1 percent in November. That development, coupled with a higher degree of weather-related delays compared to a year ago, produced an overall decrease of 6.5 percent for U.S.-Flag lakers.
The November decline is the fourth straight month in which U.S.-Flag carriage was down from a year ago, and with so many vessels scheduled to lay-up in December, it is now all but certain that what was expected to be another modern-day benchmark will come up short of 1997.
With 4 straight negative comparisons, the U.S.-Flag ore float now stands at 55.3 million tons for the season, a comparatively "mere" one million tons ahead of last year's pace. Before dumped steel put the domestic market in disaray, U.S.-Flag ore cargos were as much as 2.3 million tons ahead of the same point in the 1997 navigation season.
U.S.-Flag coal loadings remained slightly behind last year's pace in November. Utilities did not use as much coal during the mild winter of 1997-1998, so inventories were higher than normal. For the season, coal shipments in U.S. bottoms stand at 20.1 million tons, a decrease of 4.4 percent.
The stone trade in U.S.-Flag lakers was a near tie with last year, and for the season, the stone float in American hulls has increased 5.9 percent to 29.5 million tons.
While salt skipped a beat in November, the season-to-date total, 1.2 million tons, already represents the highest level in at least 10 years.
With 8 U.S.-Flag lakers already layed-up for the season, declines are expected in December and January. Lake Carriers' Association is working closely with the steel industry and Congress to address the problem of dumped foreign steel.
| Commodity | November 1998 |
November 1997 |
Season to Date 1998 |
Season to Date 1997 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Iron Ore (a) | 5,822,562 | 6,267,150 | 55,302,325 | 54,306,580 |
| Coal - Western | 1,239,548 | 1,339,181 | 12,124,896 | 12,323,758 |
| Coal, Coke - Eastern | 950,829 | 1,053,766 | 7,957,744 | 8,682,873 |
| Total - Coal | 2,190,377 | 2,392,947 | 20,082,640 | 21,006,631 |
| Limestone, Gypsum | 3,208,802 | 3,208,995 | 29,502,956 | 27,867,502 |
| Cement | 338,299 | 403,877 | 3,775,708 | 3,728,140 |
| Salt | 157,819 | 207,176 | 1,234,347 | 908,341 |
| Sand | 0 | 17,313 | 234,300 | 272,218 |
| Grain | 37,604 | 81,336 | 316,579 | 663,841 |
| Totals - All Commodities | 11,755,463 | 12,578,794 | 110,448,855 | 108,753,253 |
(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.