Port of Green Bay’s YTD tonnage sinks

The western-most port of Lake Michigan has handled 10 percent less cargo through the first eight months of 2015 in comparison to last year, despite an increase in August volumes.    The Port of Green Bay handled 36,000 more metric tons of cargo in August, up from the same month last year, however overall tonnage handled at the port through 2015 is about 10 percent lower than the same period last year, the Brown County Port and Resource Recovery Department said.
   “One cause for the decrease in tonnage may be the timing of delivery of expected tons over the shipping season,” Brown County Port and Resource Recovery Director Dean Haen said in a statement. In addition, high water levels resulted in less ship traffic.
   “One commodity bright spot was a 90 percent increase in cement, which reflects the strong regional economy and associated construction activity,” Haen said. The port handled a total of 247,634 metric tons of cement during the first eight months of 2015.
   Total throughput of cement, coal, ethanol, limestone, petroleum products, project cargo, salt and stone combined for the first eight months of the year reached 1.16 million metric tons.