Disappointing 2015 on the Great Lakes and Seaway after promising 2014
DOMESTIC Great Lakes shipowners blame the disappointing 2015 navigation season on a global plunge in commodity prices, especially iron ore, accelerated by massive influx of cut-rate Chinese steel into North America.
The St Lawrence Seaway handled nearly 40 million tonnes in 2014 versus 37 million tons in 2013, representing a 7.64 per cent increase. In the period to end October 2015, total cargo was down 9.4 per cent at 27 million tonnes.
However, Seaway officials were anticipating an improved end to the 2015 commercial navigation season following more robust activity in October that has helped to close the deficit.
Terence Bowles, CEO of the St Lawrence Management Corporation, recently told an industry conference that one can expect "stable demand for Seaway cargoes" in 2016 - "leading perhaps to a modest increase in overall volume."
Grain shipments to end October were down 9.7 per cent at 7.6 million tonnes. Iron ore was down by nearly 12 per cent and coal had plunged 37 per cent.
"There is a continuing glut of foreign steel, mainly from China, impacting significantly on iron ore movements in the Great Lakes," said Glen Nekvasil, vice-president of the Cleveland-based Lake Carriers Association (LCA).
The latter represents 15 American companies that operate 56 US-flag vessels on the Great Lakes. It's estimated that it takes one and a half tons of iron ore to manufacture one ton of steel.
In early November, Mr Nekvasil indicated that four of the 13 large 1,000-foot ships (captive to the Great Lakes) in the fleet were laid up.
Canadian-flag operators have similarly not been able to function at full capacity, although they were anticipating a late season surge in grain shipments.
According to the LCA, shipments of iron ore on the Great Lakes totalled 5.3 million tons in October - a decline of 23 per cent from a year earlier. Loadings at US ports in October of 4.6 million tons were down 27 per cent.
And through October, the Lakes/Seaway ore trade stood at 44.4 million tons, representing an overall decrease of six per cent.
On the other hand, the strong US dollar has spurred volume at ports Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. In addition to handling a flood of import steels, ports like Cleveland, Burns Harbour, Toledo and Oswego have been reporting spikes in project and grain cargoes.
In the region, Federal Marine Terminals has been enjoying brisk business in imported steel products.
For the Port of Cleveland, it has been a banner year, with cargo volume exceeding the 2014 numbers and with Spliethoff planning to increase the frequency of its Cleveland-Europe Express service to three times monthly from fortnightly in 2016.
Cargo volumes on the St Lawrence Seaway in 2015 fell well short of repeating the strong recovery in 2014 from pre-recession levels as had been hoped, resulting in Great Lakes operators not generally functioning at full capacity
DOMESTIC Great Lakes shipowners blame the disappointing 2015 navigation season on a global plunge in commodity prices, especially iron ore, accelerated by massive influx of cut-rate Chinese steel into North America.
The St Lawrence Seaway handled nearly 40 million tonnes in 2014 versus 37 million tons in 2013, representing a 7.64 per cent increase. In the period to end October 2015, total cargo was down 9.4 per cent at 27 million tonnes.
However, Seaway officials were anticipating an improved end to the 2015 commercial navigation season following more robust activity in October that has helped to close the deficit.
Terence Bowles, CEO of the St Lawrence Management Corporation, recently told an industry conference that one can expect "stable demand for Seaway cargoes" in 2016 - "leading perhaps to a modest increase in overall volume."
Grain shipments to end October were down 9.7 per cent at 7.6 million tonnes. Iron ore was down by nearly 12 per cent and coal had plunged 37 per cent.
"There is a continuing glut of foreign steel, mainly from China, impacting significantly on iron ore movements in the Great Lakes," said Glen Nekvasil, vice-president of the Cleveland-based Lake Carriers Association (LCA).
The latter represents 15 American companies that operate 56 US-flag vessels on the Great Lakes. It's estimated that it takes one and a half tons of iron ore to manufacture one ton of steel.
In early November, Mr Nekvasil indicated that four of the 13 large 1,000-foot ships (captive to the Great Lakes) in the fleet were laid up.
Canadian-flag operators have similarly not been able to function at full capacity, although they were anticipating a late season surge in grain shipments.
According to the LCA, shipments of iron ore on the Great Lakes totalled 5.3 million tons in October - a decline of 23 per cent from a year earlier. Loadings at US ports in October of 4.6 million tons were down 27 per cent.
And through October, the Lakes/Seaway ore trade stood at 44.4 million tons, representing an overall decrease of six per cent.
On the other hand, the strong US dollar has spurred volume at ports Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. In addition to handling a flood of import steels, ports like Cleveland, Burns Harbour, Toledo and Oswego have been reporting spikes in project and grain cargoes.
In the region, Federal Marine Terminals has been enjoying brisk business in imported steel products.
For the Port of Cleveland, it has been a banner year, with cargo volume exceeding the 2014 numbers and with Spliethoff planning to increase the frequency of its Cleveland-Europe Express service to three times monthly from fortnightly in 2016.
Cargo volumes on the St Lawrence Seaway in 2015 fell well short of repeating the strong recovery in 2014 from pre-recession levels as had been hoped, resulting in Great Lakes operators not generally functioning at full capacity