Iron ore shipments on the Great Lakes totaled 5.7 million net tons in October, a slight decrease from both a year ago and the month’s 5-year average. Shipments from Canadian Seaway ports reacted much quicker to the downturn in steel production, falling some 32 percent from a year ago. U.S. ports actually outperformed a year ago, but shipments did start to fall off in the final week of October. For the year, the Great Lakes iron ore trade stands at 51.2 million net tons, an increase of 8 percent compared to both a year ago and the 5-year average for the January-October timeframe. However, the capacity utilization rate in the steel industry has fallen to 65 percent and steel mill shipments are now below last year’s year-to-date level…