Great Lakes coal trade slips by 6.6 per cent
January 27, 08 by TheFleetIf you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Source: Dredging News Online
The Lake Carriers’ Association says coal shipments on the Great Lakes fell below 39.3 million net tons in 2007, a decrease of 6.6 per cent compared to 2006.
Loadings were 4.9 per cent off the trade’s five-year average.
Lightloading impacted the trade all year, and turned into a virtual stranglehold in December. By month’s end, the largest coal cargoes barely topped 60,000 tons. When water levels were high in the late 1990s and offset the lack of adequate dredging, the same vessels were carrying nearly 71,000 tons each trip.
For those ships to leave port with only 60,000 tons in their holds meant more than 15 per cent of the vessels’ optimum carrying capacity was unused.
