Shipments of limestone on the Great Lakes totaled 28 million tons in 2017, an increase of 6.4 percent compared to 2016, according to the Lake Carriers’ Association. The 2017 loadings were also 2.1 percent above the trade’s five-year average.
Loadings from U.S. quarries totaled 23.2 million tons, an increase of 8.4 percent compared to 2016. Shipments from U.S. quarries also inched passed their 5-year average.
Shipments from Canadian quarries totaled 4.85 million tons, a decrease of 2.1 percent from 2016, but 10.4 percent better than their 5-year average.
Since 1880, Lake Carriers’ Association has represented the U.S.-flag Great Lakes fleet, which today can annually move more than 90 million tons of cargos that are the foundation of American manufacturing, power generation, and construction: iron ore, limestone, coal, cement and other dry bulk materials such as grain and sand. In turn, these cargos generate and sustain more than 103,000 jobs in the eight Great Lakes states and have an annual economic impact of more than $20 billion.