US-flag Iron Ore Cargos Retreat Again in July

With the nation awash in dumped foreign steel, iron ore cargos carried by U.S.-flag Great Lakes freighters (lakers) fell again in July, according to the Lake Carriers’ Association  (LCA). Loadings totaled 4.7 million tons, a decrease of 10 percent compared to a year ago.  The slump comes on the heels of a 10 percent decrease in June.

Total cargo movement in U.S. hulls totaled 10.9 million tons in July, a decrease of 4 percent compared to a year ago.

U.S.-flag lakers’ coal float increased 6.4 percent in July, but shipments of limestone dipped by 5.6 percent. The stone trade is also feeling the impacts of unfair trade in steel, LCA said. Steel production is the primary driver behind demand for fluxstone and metallurgical stone.

The failure of the MacArthur Lock at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, on July 29 did not play a major role in the month’s totals, but six U.S.-flag lakers and 250,000 tons of cargo were delayed for about 13 hours between the lock’s closure and midnight July 31. The lock reopened on August 17. In total, 79 U.S.-flag lakers and 1.9 million tons of cargo were delayed for approximately 160 hours during the 20-day closure.

Year-to-date, U.S.-flag carriage stands at 42.5 million tons, an increase of 10.7 percent compared to a year ago. Iron ore, coal and limestone have all registered increases over their end-of-July totals in 2014, but those increases in part reflect the catastrophic ice conditions that prevailed for the first five months of that year.  Heavy ice so delayed the resumption of the ore trade in March 2014 that at least one steelmaker had to curtail production and normal transit times did not become routine until early May. The ice was formidable again this spring, but had largely cleared by late April.