St. Lawrence Seaway shipments down 10.6% in 2015

Total year-to-date cargo shipments through the St. Lawrence Seaway declined from last year, but dry bulk shipments have increased.    The St. Lawrence Seaway reported a total of 18.3 million metric tons of cargo had been shipped through the seaway between its opening on April 2 and Aug. 31, a year-over-year drop of 10.6 percent.
   Coal shipments through the seaway for the period fell 37.6 percent from the same period last year to 1.5 million metric tons.
   3.4 million metric tons of iron ore and 4.8 million metric tons of grain were shipped through the St. Lawrence Seaway during this period, down 15.7 percent and 15.3 percent, respectively.
   Liquid bulk shipments between April 2 and Aug. 31 posted a 5.1 percent year-over-year drop to 1.7 million metric tons, but dry bulk shipments reported a year-over-year increase of 9.3 percent to 5.4 million metric tons.
   For the month of August, high value project cargo shipments through the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway System were “on the move,” Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation Administrator Betty Sutton said in a statement. “Ships carried oversized cargo of wind components like towers, nacelles, blades and hubs, machinery, generators and refinery equipment to the Ports of Cleveland, Toledo and Duluth,” said Sutton.
   The Port of Toledo has had a strong shipping season this year for project cargo, according to the Great Lakes Seaway Partnership. “Many of the project cargo shipments via the seaway are in support of the regional oil and gas industry,” Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority Vice President of Business Development Joe Cappel said.
   The Port of Duluth has also had a busy summer for both heavy-lift and project cargo, the Great Lakes Seaway Partnership said. In August, four vessels arrived to discharge wind turbine towers, nacelles and 49-meter blades and components for Minnesota’s oil and gas industry. “We anticipate closing out this season on a high note here at the Clure Public Marine Terminal,” said Vanta Coda, executive director of Duluth Seaway Port Authority. “There are another five ships on the horizon scheduled for later this fall, serving the wind, oil and gas, and pulp/paper industries in North America’s Heartland.”