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The amount of general cargo shipments through the St. Lawrence Seaway is 8 percent lower in the second quarter, year-over-year.
According to the Great Lakes Seaway Partnership, 10.4 million tons of cargo went through the Seaway between April and June, an 8.4-percent fall from last year’s shipping numbers during the same time period.
Poor weather conditions at the beginning of the year affected shipping, according to Nancy Alcalde, spokeswoman for the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation. Additionally, 2015 shipping numbers have been less than 2014’s,
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which was a strong year.
In particular, Alcalde said a decrease in certain commodities has reduced cargo shipments: iron ore shipping decreased by 12 percent, coal by 33 percent and Canadian grain by 17 percent.
Alcalde said global iron prices have dropped because of low demand and an economic downturn in China, which uses two-thirds of the world’s iron tonnage. Global coal demand has also decreased.
For more of the Watertown Daily Times story: www.watertowndailytimes.com
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