St. Lawrence Seaway experiences 5.3% drop in cargo shipments

Cargo shipments on the St. Lawrence Seaway totaled 21 million metric tons between March 21 and Sept. 30, a 5.3 percent year-over-year decline, according to the Great Lakes Seaway Partnership.    The Great Lakes Seaway Partnership said cargo shipments on the St. Lawrence Seaway between March 21 and Sept. 30 totaled 21 million metric tons, a 5.3 percent decline from the corresponding period in 2015.
   Coal shipments on the seaway between March 21 and Sept. 30 tumbled 15 percent year-over-year, while iron ore shipments dropped 13 percent, and dry bulk shipments fell 11 percent.
   Meanwhile, at the Port of Toledo, coal, liquid and general cargo shipments have surpassed 2015 year-to-date levels, the Great Lakes Seaway Partnership said.
   At the Port of Milwaukee, steel shipments rose seven percent so far this year, while grain shipments have more than doubled. “We expect continued strength through the final quarter of the year,” Port of Milwaukee Port Director Paul Vornholt said.
   In September alone, the Port of Green Bay saw total tonnage for all categories of domestic inbound and foreign imports soar 17.2 percent from September 2015 to 251,028 tons, according to the Brown County Port and Resource Recovery Department. In regards to the increase in imports, Brown County Port and Resource Recovery Department Director Dean Haen said, “We are hopeful the trend will continue through the end of the shipping season, which we anticipate to be toward the end of December or whenever eight inches or more of ice covers the shipping channels.”
   However, total exports at the Port of Green Bay during the month tumbled 60.1 percent year-over-year to 7,838 tons.