The 2023 Great Lakes shipping season ended today with more iron ore being moved through the region and limited ice cover on lakes.
Shipping season wraps up
The Philip R. Clarke was the last bulk carrier to pass through the Soo Locks this morning, marking the official end of the shipping season.
The U.S. Army Corps. of Engineers will now shift its attention to maintenance and repairs of the locks during the two-month shipping recess.
According to the Lake Carriers Association, which represent commercial shippers, over 51 million tons of iron ore have traveled across the Great Lakes as of December, which is a 20% increase when compared to last year. Limestone will likely be down by a few percentage points when compared to 2022 after the final numbers are tabulated. Iron ore and limestone are the two most commonly transported materials in the Great Lakes.
Eric Peace, Vice President of the Lake Carriers Association, said the end of the season is crucial for manufacturing facilities to stockpile raw materials for the rest of winter.
"Iron ore turns into steel, which makes your cars your appliances. Everything else you have to depend on foreign, and we don't want to depend on foreign, especially with the supply chain issues we've had over the last couple of years at least," Peace said.
The Soo Locks' closure was slightly delayed, so ships could make their final deliveries, following a winter storm that struck the state this past weekend. The 2024-25 shipping season begins at the end of March.
Great Lakes ice cover is below historical levels
Nearly 4% of the Great Lakes are covered with ice, which is five times below the historical average this time of year. But a long stretch of cold temperatures may rapidly change conditions.
Jim Keysor is a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Gaylord. He said ice cover typically peaks in mid-February and early March, so there’s still time in the season for ice to develop.
“We likely will see [ice cover] numbers jump pretty dramatically here over the next week and 10 days,” Keysor said. “And then, it may slow a bit briefly after that as we have a bit of a warm-up and then cool-down again."
Despite a warm December and a record-low at the start of the new year, Keysor said catching up to historical ice levels isn't out of the question.
"We've seen some years that started quite slowly, and over a couple weeks where we had just the right conditions, the ice expanded rapidly and we were able to get up to normal levels," Keysor said.
