Coal shipments originated on the Great Lakes totaled nearly 3 million st in September, up 13.4% from August and up 12.2% from the year-ago month, the Lake Carriers Association said Thursday.
Year to date, coal shipments totaled more than 15.7 million st, down 7% compared with last year.
The Superior Midwest Energy Terminal, in Superior, Wisconsin, led all Great Lakes ports with September coal shipments of 1.7 million st, up 16.1% from the prior month and up 7.8% from the year-ago month.
Coal shipments were all strong from CSX's coal pier in Toledo, Ohio, which shipped 521,448 st during September, up 33.6% from August and up 126% from last year.
Attempts to reach the terminal's manager were unsuccessful.
Joe Cappel, with the Toledo-Lucas Port Authority, attributed the increase in tonnage to a pick-up in overall economic activity through the port, which has seen increases in a number of different commodities this year.
"Coal goes up and down, and last year it was down pretty low, so I think it may be more of a return to normalcy than anything else," Cappel said.
For vessels that stay within the lakes, a full load is typically around 70,000 st, the association said. Ocean-going vessels are constrained by the lakes' lock system and have a maximum cargo size of roughly 25,000 mt, Cappel said.
