Great Lakes limestone trade down to start year

A cold April put a damper on Great Lakes limestone shipments, which totaled just 1.2 million net tons last month according to the Lake Carriers’ Association. That’s a decrease of 23 percent compared to the state of the trade one year ago.

Loadings at U.S. ports totaled 1.1 million tons, a decrease of 19 percent. Shipments from Canadian quarries totaled 177,000 tons, a decrease of nearly 41 percent, the association adds.

To date, the limestone trade stands at 1.5 million tons, a decrease of 12.8 percent compared with last year. Shipments from U.S. ports totaled 1.3 million tons, a decrease of 7 percent. The year-to-date total for U.S. ports includes 17,664 tons loaded in February and 218,452 tons shipped in March.

No limestone moved from Canadian quarries during the first quarter, meaning the April total is also the year-to-date total for Canadian ports.