Shipments of coal on the Great Lakes have gone down recently after a storm near Duluth, Minn. temporarily shut down one of the busiest energy terminals in the region.

Mr Glen Nekvasil VP of the Lake Carriers Association, an organization that represents American operators of multiple Great Lakes cargo ships said that “The shut down had a major impact. The coal trade in June was 2.6 million tonnes a decrease of almost 10% compared to May and 13% decrease compared to a year ago.”

Mr Nekvasil said that the Superior Midwest Energy Terminal shut down on June 19 and did not resume loading until July 8th 2012. The nearly three week shut down was a result of severe flooding from the storm, which damaged a lot of the loading equipment.

Superior Midwest Energy is the largest energy terminal on the Great Lakes. Of the 2.6 million tonnes of coal traded in June, 1.2 million tonnes went through the Superior Midwest Energy Terminal. A number of other factors also contributed to this year’s decrease in coal shipments on the Great Lakes.

Mr Nekvasil said that Ontario is moving toward banning the use of coal for power generation. So we’ve been seeing a decrease in the coal trade as Canadians are switching to other fuel services.

Mr Nekvasil also attributes the decrease in coal shipments to the lack of dredging Great Lakes harbors. Dredging helps maintain the depths of waterways so cargo ships can successfully pass through.

He said that “Our largest ships are designed to carry more then 70,000 tons each trip, but the Great Lakes ports and waterways have not been dredged adequately for a number of years, and as a result they are not carrying full loads.”

Source - Greatlakesecho.org

(www.coalguru.com)