Great Lakes Ore Trade Down in July, Steel Shipments Rise
From the Lake Carriers Association: Shipments of iron ore on the Great Lakes totaled 3.5 million tons in July, a decrease of 46.5 percent compared to a year ago. Shipments were also 41 percent behind the month’s 5-year average.
Year-to-date the iron ore trade stands at 20.7 million tons, a decrease of 22.6 percent compared to the same point in 2019. Iron ore shipments are 19.8 percent behind their 5-year average for the first seven months of the year.
Great Lakes Iron Ore Shipments: July 2015-2020 & 5-Year Average (Net Tons)
Includes Transshipments to Quebec City for Shipment Overseas
| Port | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | Average (2015-2019) |
| Duluth, MN | 724,554 | 374,591 | 822,486 | 853,576 | 1,242,870 | 1,235,506 | 803,615 |
| Superior, WI | 1,120,670 | 978,771 | 1,580,846 | 1,618,776 | 1,362,328 | 345,472 | 1,332,278 |
| Two Harbors, MN | 1,637,339 | 1,564,494 | 1,691,720 | 1,963,241 | 1,988,696 | 1,040,098 | 1,769,098 |
| Silver Bay, MN | 633,938 | 254,819 | 905,617 | 861,096 | 691,577 | 325,313 | 669,409 |
| Marquette, MI | 891,011 | 902,102 | 785,678 | 739,543 | 771,756 | 373,246 | 818,018 |
| Escanaba, MI* | 267,861 | 588,997 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 171,372 |
| Cleveland, OH** | 468,264 | 290,923 | 212,074 | 281,295 | 269,889 | 133,016 | 304,489 |
| Ashtabula, OH | 0 | 0 | 33,507 | 146,785 | 235,228 | 57,837 | 83,104 |
| Conneaut, OH | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 5,743,637 | 4,954,697 | 6,031,928 | 6,464,312 | 6,562,344 | 3,510,488 | 5,951,384 |
Year-to-Date (Net Tons)
| Port | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | Average (2015-2019) |
| Duluth, MN | 3,164,822 | 2,508,540 | 3,696,810 | 3,756,674 | 4,541,951 | 4,357,654 | 3,533,759 |
| Superior, WI | 4,548,294 | 5,220,621 | 5,927,379 | 6,209,924 | 5,493,506 | 3,552,795 | 5,479,945 |
| Two Harbors, MN | 7,303,834 | 7,525,444 | 8,243,928 | 8,136,780 | 8,753,933 | 6,714,871 | 7,992,784 |
| Silver Bay, MN | 2,295,151 | 658,060 | 3,140,573 | 3,175,258 | 2,596,327 | 1,951,505 | 2,373,074 |
| Marquette, MI | 3,143,307 | 3,714,512 | 3,410,001 | 3,255,572 | 3,256,379 | 2,327,814 | 3,355,954 |
| Escanaba, MI* | 1,801,011 | 2,594,790 | 1,016,867 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1,082,534 |
| Cleveland, OH** | 1,893,427 | 1,814,932 | 1,664,475 | 1,496,402 | 1,373,118 | 1,394,651 | 1,648,471 |
| Ashtabula, OH | 0 | 0 | 381,952 | 584,328 | 740,031 | 398,639 | 341,262 |
| Conneaut, OH | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 24,149,846 | 24,036,899 | 27,481,985 | 26,614,938 | 26,755,245 | 20,697,929 | 25,807,783 |
*Dock ceased operations in April 2017.
**Transshipments within Cleveland Harbor.
The American Iron and Steel Institute reports this week that US steel mill shipments of steel are down 22% from June 2019, shipping 6,023,524 net tons of steel in June 2020 in comparison to that month's total of 7,718,499 net tons shipped in 2019. This June's total represents a 10.3% increase from the 5,461,851 net tons shipped in May 2020.
In comparison to May 2020, hot-dipped galvanized sheet and strip is up 33%, cold-rolled sheet is up 14%, and hot-rolled sheet is up 12%.
AISI reports that in the week ending August 15th, domestic raw steel production was 1,377,000 net tons while the capability utilization rate was at 61.5%. Compared to the same week in 2019, current production represents a drop of 25.2% when production was 1,841,000 and the capability utilization rate was 80.7%.
The week ending August 15th represents a 1.7% increase over the week ending August 8th, when production was 1,354,000 net tons and the rate of capability utilization was at 60.4%.
Steelmakers in the Great Lakes region produced 466,000 net tons or 33.8% of total domestic production in the week ending August 15th.