Steel imports drive shipments up 8.37%
Cargo is up by nearly a million tonnes compared to the same time in 2020
Driven by steel imports from Europe, general cargo shipped through the 3,700-kilometrelong Great Lakes-st. Lawrence Seaway system was up 61.46 per cent last month, figures released Tuesday show.
In a release, the Chamber of Marine Commerce said steel imports are feeding manufacturing and construction activity in cities in the U.S. and Ontario.
The chamber is a binational association that represents more than 130 marine industry stakeholders on both sides of the border and internationally.
It said dry bulk shipments were up 16 per cent due to high demand across the Great Lakes region for construction materials including cement and gypsum.
Synthetic gypsum is one of the commodities shipped to Port Colborne’s Snider Dock Services on the east wall of the Welland Canal. The material comes out of the Port of Monroe, in Monroe, Mich., on the west end of Lake Erie.
Figures released by St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp. show iron ore shipments were up 14.16 per cent compared to the same time last year.
“Canadian ship operators are transporting healthy volumes of iron ore pellets from U.S. Lake Superior ports to the Port of Quebec, where they are transshipped overseas to Asia and Europe,” the chamber said in a release.
The increases helped drive the total amount of cargo shipped up 8.37 per cent — nearly a million tonnes more than compared to the same time in 2020 — through the end of June.
“It’s clear from our cargo numbers that commodities have been in high demand both at home and abroad and our system is well positioned to service this demand and to continue to support economic growth for North America,” said seaway president and chief executive officer Terence Bowles in the release.
Chamber president and chief executive officer Bruce Burrows said it is good to see the marine industry bustling again.
Shipments of coal were down 0.43 per cent, while liquid bulk was down 9.66 per cent.
Grain shipped through the system was down 5.18 per cent.
“Canadian grain shipments have softened slightly but this performance is still above the five-year average. The big question mark will be how the new harvests fare this summer given the current hot, dry conditions,” said Bowles.