Truckers can anticipate increased opportunities along the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway System as breakbulk, grain, and container transportation appear to be on the rise.
Stakeholders involved in breakbulk expect cargo to experience a sharp rise. Strong steel and iron ore cargos positioned the St. Lawrence Seaway to offload and haul more than 38 million tons in 2021. Although Canada suffered a down grain harvest due to drought last year, iron and steel drove the 2,300-mile system of more than 100 ports into positive gains. Steel and iron rose by 109 percent to 2,695,000 tons and steel slab movement soared to 748,000 tons.
“In 2021, volumes went up 1.6 percent from the previous year, but if you remove grain from that equation because of the approximately 20 percent drop in harvest due to drought, everything else was almost 13 percent higher,” Terence Bowles, the president and CEO of the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation, reportedly said. “So, that gives us some idea of how much the economy has kicked up since the pandemic shutdown in 2020 and why we can be optimistic.”
The Port of Cleveland reportedly enjoyed a 69 percent tonnage increase in 2021 largely due to non-containerized goods, containerized cargo, and iron ore directly hauled to the Cleveland-Cliffs Cleveland Works facility. Steel and breakbulk project items and materials soared by a reported 57 percent in 2021, with truckers hauling more than 650,000 metric tons.
While port activity was higher in 2021 and several ports became bottlenecked, Cleveland appeared to stay ahead of the supply chain crisis. A pair of infrastructure projects were completed last year, paving the way for increased volume in 2022. An iron ore tunnel at the Cleveland-Bulk Terminal was expanded, and the gate systems were increased and modernized to improve freight hauling efficiency. Truckers are expected to experience reduced wait time going forward.
Although areas of the Great Lakes cargo vessel system are off to a slow 2022 start due to ice, Cleveland continues to make strides. Seven ocean-going “salties” recently arrived after making their way through the St. Lawrence Seaway system, bringing containerized goods, steel products, machinery, and miscellaneous cargo. Offloading these early-season ships has given Cleveland something of a head start in 2022.
“We’ve worked diligently to improve our operations and increase the capacity across our docks in recent years,” William D. Friedman, president of the Port of Cleveland, reportedly said. “It’s no coincidence that we’ve positioned ourselves as an emerging port of call for containerized cargoes from across the globe.”
Similarly, the Port of Toledo handled 78 vessels through April, resulting in an 11-percent increase in tonnage over the first four months of 2021. Canadian grain is also expected to rebound this year, and ports are already seeing an increase over 2021, along with salt, coal, and liquid bulk items.
Sources: gcaptain.com, ajot.com
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