Lakes Coal Trade Impacted by Weather in June
CLEVELAND – Shipments of coal on the Great Lakes totaled 2.6 million tons in June, a decrease of 9.7 percent compared to May, and a drop of nearly 13 percent compared to a year ago. Some of the decrease was the result of a lengthy outage at the Lakes’ largest coal-shipping operation, Superior Midwest Energy Terminal in Superior, Wisconsin.
Flooding after a torrential storm forced shipments to cease on June 19. The dock resumed loading on July 8. Overseas shipments continued in June. Coal shipped to Quebec City for reloading into oceangoing vessels totaled 246,000 tons.
Year-to-date the Lakes coal trade stands at 8.9 million tons, a decrease of 7.6 percent compared to a year ago. However, for the first half of the year, loadings are nearly 28 percent behind their 5- year average.