Great Lakes limestone shipments totaled 1.9 million net tons, a decrease of 3.5 percent compared to a year ago.  Loadings were below the month’s 5-year average by 11.2 percent.

Loadings at U.S. ports totaled 1.6 million tons, a decrease of 1.4 percent.  Shipments from Canadian quarries decreased by 12.7 percent to 323,039 tons.

Year-to-date the limestone trade stands at 2 million tons, an increase of less than one percent from 2022.  Shipments from U.S. ports increased by four percent from the previous year, while shipments from Canadian ports increased by 7.6 percent.

Meanwhile, iron ore shipments on the Great Lakes totaled 4.8 million tons in April, an increase of 55.1 percent compared to last year.  Shipments were just slightly below the month’s 5-year average.

Year-to-date the iron ore trade stands at 8.5 million tons, an increase of 54.4 percent compared to the same point in 2022. Through April, iron ore shipments are 6.8 percent above their 5-year average for four months of the year.