Taconite iron ore shipments on the Great Lakes are trending up.
The industry totaled 5.56 million tons of ore shipped in April, an increase of 8.2% compared to the same month last year of 5.14 million tons.
Shipments were 8.6% ahead of the month’s five-year average of 5.12 million tons, the Lake Carriers’ Association announced this week.
Year-to-date, the iron ore trade stands at 9.45 million tons, an increase of 15% compared to the same point in 2020, when the total was 8.22 million tons.
Iron ore shipments are 10.1% above their five-year average of 8.59 million tons through April, which includes partial months of January and March around the Great Lakes shipping offseason.
Blast-furnace utilization rates continued to hover around 74% in March, compared to 64% in April 2020 during the early days of the pandemic in the United States.
The port of Duluth accounted for 1.02 million tons of iron ore shipped in April, trailing Superior (1.24 million tons) and Two Harbors (1.55 million tons). Silver Bay brought slightly more than 623,000 tons for the month.
Iron ore is the primary cargo in the Twin Ports, accounting for roughly two-thirds of all cargoes.
Last season, only 15.4 million tons of iron ore moved through the port of Duluth-Superior — the worst total since illegal foreign steel created a glut in the domestic market in 2015 (13.9 million tons) and 2016 (14.8 million tons).