U.S.-Flag Carriage Down Again in June

While certainly not a June swoon, U.S.-Flag carriage on the Great Lakes again fell short of the level of a year ago. The major U.S.-Flag Lakes lines carried 12.5 million net tons of dry-bulk cargo in June, a decrease of 3.2 percent compared to the corresponding period last year. Since the resumption of the dry-bulk trades on February 7, U.S.-Flag carriage stands at 39.8 million tons, a decrease of 2.6 percent.
 
Iron ore cargos for the steel industry were down just slightly in June, and for the season are essentially unchanged. There was a slight increase in stone cargos and that small upturn brought the 2000 season-to-date total in line with 1999's end-of-June tally.
 
The seemingly large drop off in western coal cargos merely reflects that June 1999 was a near record month.
 
U.S.-FLAG CARRIAGE
JUNE AND SEASON-TO-DATE: 2000 - 1999
(net tons)

Commodity

June 2000

June 1999

S-T-D 2000

S-T-D 1999

Iron Ore (a)

6,132,623

6,288,925

21,350,714

21,461,047

Coal - Western

1,297,053

1,656,416

4,455,567

4,832,441

Coal - Eastern

944,949

1,013,701

2,450,177

2,814,494

Total - Coal

2,242,002

2,670,117

6,905,744

7,646,935

Limestone, Gypsum

3,444,615

3,257,473

9,493,158

9,475,427

Cement

443,702

432,259

1,498,993

1,553,618

Salt

134,619

163,000

397,043

493,000

Sand

25,902

33,367

66,707

66,722

Grain

54,554

50,920

70,876

123,352

Totals

12,478,017

12,896,061

39,783,235

40,820,101

(a) Includes Lorain/Cleveland shuttle.

ggn@lcaships.com
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