The Coal Trade of the Great Lakes and the Port of Toledo

Abstract

AM ONG the commodity movements in America few are more widely known than the bulk traffic of the Great Lakes. The transport of coal and iron ore is frequently cited as the outstanding example of this low-cost water transportation. The character of the traffic, however, needs to be better understood. This is particularly true of the coal trade, which has a greater number of geographic and economic factors coming into play than the ore movement. Shipments of coal, bituminous and anthracite, from 14 United States Great Lakes ports in 1945 amounted to more than 55.6 million net tons (Table I). More than 15 million tons went to Canada via the North American Mediterranean. The particular significance of this latter amount is that it represented 60 per cent of the world's greatest single-commodity trade between individual countries (Table II). Shipments of bituminous and anthracite coal on the Great Lakes originate principally at Io ports along the southern littoral of Lake Erie. In 1945 these ports contributed 49,709,756 net tons or 92 per cent of the total bituminouscoal shipments. Three of the ports, at the east end of the lake, shipped 1,234,408 net tons of anthracite coal, or 78 per cent of the total. Of the other four coal shipping centers, three are on Lake Ontario, and their principal markets are Canadian ports. The fourth, the most recent coal shipping point on the Lakes, is the Calumet River district of Chicago, which began operations in 1942. Unlike the other ports, which ship northern and middle Appalachian coal, this point handles bituminous from western Kentucky and southern Illinois. Shipment of more than 55.6 million net tons of cargo coal on the Great Lakes in 1945 places that year second only to the record year, 1944, when more than 60 million tons was handled. In 1946 the volume was about 54 million tons and the writer estimates the 1947 figures at about 58 million tons. It would seem that the traffic, in normal times, will continue to be above 50 million tons. An additional million and a half net tons of bituminous coal is used for vessel fuel (Table I). The total tonnage of bituminous coal transshipped at Great Lakes ports in 1945 amounted to 9.4 per cent of all bituminous coal and lignite produced