According to Fednav International Ltd. (FIL), a division of Fednav
Limited, Canada’s largest dry bulk and general cargo shipowning
and chartering group, steel tonnage into the Great Lakes were at
historical lows in 2009. The reasons for this drop include a
combination of slower economy, the decline of the automotive
industry, the North American steel industry’s consolidation, a
shift in its production to more Southern states, and efforts
toward self-sufficiency.
Federal Atlantic Lakes Line (FALLine), a service of FIL
specializing in transporting steel parcels and general cargo from
Northern European ports to St. Lawrence River and Great Lakes
ports. Compared with five years ago, the amount of steel that
Fednav transports from Europe has declined approximately by
50%. This tonnage reduction has drastically affected the region’s
Fednav defies drastic downturn in steel to celebrate 65th anniversary
export capacity. FALLine and FIL have adjusted by chartering
smaller ships with box holds to accommodate the reduction in
demand by transporting smaller loads.
In the view of Federal Marine Terminals (FMT), steel import
levels are not expected in the short term to return to levels of
the earlier years of this millennium, only very timid increases are
expected for the second half of 2010. FMT is a subsidiary of the
Fednav Group that operates stevedoring facilities on the U.S.
East and Gulf Coasts as well as in six of the Great Lakes ports.
While there has generally been little for the shipping industry
to celebrate of late, the Fednav Group is very pleased to
commemorate the 50th anniversary of FALLine and the 65th
anniversary of Fednav Limited, founded in 1944 as Federal
Commerce and Navigation.