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    Steel Products Prices North America

    Status of Great Lakes Iron Ore Shipments

    Written by John Packard


    Vessels carrying iron ore, metallurgical coal, aggregate and grain continue to work under the force majeure created when ice conditions at the start of the shipping season ended up costing the shipping companies 40 days of lost transit time. At the beginning of the season ice conditions were beyond the Coast Guard’s ice breaking capabilities. Lake Superior and the upper rivers were limited to one-way, escorted traffic until the early part of May.

    Now we are seeing unusually cold temperatures all across the United States and there are signs that portions of Lake Superior are already starting to form ice.

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