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Midway through summer navigation St Lawrence Seaway down 11pc

HALF-WAY through the 2016 St Lawrence Seaway navigation season and tonnage numbers 11 per cent down year on year, reports the American Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation (SLSDC).

"The lack of iron ore and coal has definitely been a contributing factor for this decrease," said SLSDC administrator said Betty Sutton.

Dry bulk was down 13.4 per cent but stone was up 52 per cent and potash rose 17 per cent. Iron ore was down 28 per cent; coal was down 12 per cent.

While the general cargo category was down 11 per cent overall, steel slabs were up 214 per cent and other general cargo was up 74 per cent.

"However international traffic continues to be well above the five-year average, keeping our ports and their workforce busy," she said.

"Aluminum shipments supporting the automotive industry played a significant role in activity at the ports of Oswego, NY, Toledo, OH and Detroit," said Ms Sutton.

"We also saw wind energy parts moving through the Port of Ogdensburg, NY, headed for the new Jericho Rise Wind Farm project in upstate New York. The ports of Chicago, IL, Burns Harbor, IN and Milwaukee, WI were also busy with the movement of steel products and machinery.

"Agricultural products including soybeans, corn and wheat were loaded in Duluth, MN, Burns Harbor and Toledo, with containerised cargo and general cargo exports leaving from Cleveland," she said.