Shipments of iron ore on the Great Lakes totaled 5.1 million tons in November, a decrease of one load in a 1,000-foot-long U.S.-flag laker.
However, shipments did outpace the month’s 5-year average by nearly 4 percent.
Year-to-date the iron ore trade stands at 49.8 million tons, a decrease of 1.7 percent compared to the same point in 2017. The shortfall has been decreasing over the course of the shipping season. At the end of April, iron ore shipments were down nearly 14 percent.
Through November iron ore loadings are 6.9 percent ahead of their 5-year average for that timeframe.