Lakes Limestone Trade Down

Cleveland—Shipments of limestone on the Great Lakes totaled 3.5 million net tons in November, a decrease of six percent compared to both a year ago and the month’s five-year average.

Demand is waning in light of the deteriorating economy. However, lack of adequate dredging impacted those stone cargos that did move in November. A large U.S.-Flag tug/barge unit that has carried nearly 35,000 net tons of stone in a single trip averaged only 31,101 net tons over the four cargos it carried this November. For the year, the Lakes limestone trade stands at 31.8 million net tons, a slight decrease compared to the same point in 2007, but more than 2.7 million net tons behind the five-year average for the January-November timeframe.