No Relief In Sight
Low Water Levels Lower U.S.-Flag Float In May
- Falling Lake levels continued to plague Great Lakes shipping in May. Cargo movement in U.S.-Flag vessels fell by
nearly 500,000 tons compared to previous May. Turn the clock back to May of 1997, before the Lakes began
draining, and the month's total is down nearly 1 million tons.
-
- Iron ore cargos for the steel industry and loadings of western coal increased slightly in May. That increase does not
contradict the preceding paragraph. The wet spring has dampened demand for aggregate from the construction
industry, so vessel operators have put more capacity into the iron ore and coal trades.
-
- For the season, U.S.-Flag carriage stands at 27.3 million net tons, a decrease of 600,000 tons compared to the same
point in the 1999 navigation season.
-
-
- U.S.-FLAG CARRIAGE
MAY AND SEASON-TO-DATE: 2000 - 1999
(net tons)
Commodity
| May 2000
| May 1999
| S-T-D 2000
| S-T-D 1999
|
| Iron Ore (a) | 6,467,832
| 6,353,918
| 15,218,091
| 15,172,122
|
| Coal - Western | 1,553,215
| 1,514,171
| 3,158,514
| 3,176,025
|
| Coal - Eastern | 593,767
| 984,947
| 1,505,228
| 1,800,793
|
Total - Coal
| 2,146,982
| 2,499,118
| 4,663,742
| 4,976,818
|
| Limestone, Gypsum | 3,457,952
| 3,497,891
| 6,048,543
| 6,217,954
|
| Cement | 494,086
| 557,619
| 1,055,291
| 1,121,359
|
| Salt | 95,062
| 197,000
| 262,424
| 330,000
|
| Sand | 40,805
| 0
| 40,805
| 33,355
|
| Grain | 16,322
| 53,963
| 16,322
| 72,432
|
| Totals | 12,719,041
| 13,159,509
| 27,305,218
| 27,924,040
|
(a) Includes Lorain/Cleveland shuttle.
ggn@lcaships.com
