Water levels in the Great Lakes remain low this summer, but the amountof cargo shipped across the lakes has held fairly steady compared tolast year’s amounts. Shipping officials say that’s because the ships’crews are working a lot harder. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s DaleWillman reports:
Transcript
Water levels in the Great Lakes remain low this summer, but the amount of cargo shipped
across the lakes has held fairly steady compared to last year’s amounts. Shipping officials
say that’s because the ship’s crews are working a lot harder. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Dale Willman reports.
Although some areas of the region have suffered a drop in cargo deliveries, officials with
the Lake Carrier’s Association say the overall change in tonnage has been negligible.
George Ryan is president of the Association. He says the larger ships, which account for
about 70-percent of the total cargo shipped in the region, have had to run at less than 100-
percent capacity. That’s because with a full load they would hit bottom in some areas.
But they’ve made up for the loss in cargo by making more runs. However, more runs cut
into profits…
“So the larger ships are suffering.”
Ryan says companies haven’t released exact figures, but the lost revenue has run as high
as 40-thousand dollars per trip. However, Ryan says the season has not been as bad as
expected, and he says with a mild winter, the total tonnage shipped this year, if not the
dollars made, should remain solid.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Dale Willman.