Great Lakes Iron Ore Trade Off 3.6 Percent in October
CLEVELAND—Iron ore shipments on the Great Lakes totaled 5.5 million tons in October, a decrease of 6 percent compared to September, and 3.6 percent below the level of a year ago. Shipments were, however, marginally ahead of October’s 5-year average. Shipments from U.S. ports totaled 4.5 million tons, a decrease of 11.1 percent compared to a year ago. Included in that total were 81,000 tons shipped to Québec City for final delivery overseas.
Loadings at Canadian ports jumped more than 60 percent to 950,000 tons. Through October the iron ore trade stands at 50 million tons, an increase of 2.5 percent compared to a year ago, and 14.6 percent better than the 5-year average for the January-October timeframe.