Shipping totals decrease for year

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Federal Weser

The ship Federal Weser stands at dock in Port Duluth-Superior after unloading cement. The vessel was built in China 23 years ago and flies the flag of the Marshall Islands as it plies trade routes around the world. Starting in October, ships built in China are now assessed docking fees of $50 per ton of cargo. The fees are intended to increase $30 per ton per year through 2028. Some types of cargo and ships of less than 80,000 deadweight tons in dry-bulk capacity may be exempt. Vessels will be charged as many as five times each year. It’s likely the fees will be passed along to customers who ship cargo on foreign-built vessels docking in the United States.

Jason Maloney/For Agri-View

Barges

A towboat pushes barges down the Mississippi River along the Wisconsin shore. Grain shipments on the Mississippi River have been slowed by low water this autumn.

Jason Maloney/For Agri-View

Train

Locomotives pull a freight train on tracks in Wisconsin along the Mississippi River. Carload volume – the total number of train cars hauled in the nation – decreased in September.

Jason Maloney/For Agri-View

Train

Freight cars roll across a road crossing in Cassville, Wisconsin. The volume of train cars in use at a given time as well as the price of shipping cargo on them can provide information used to gauge the economic health of the nation.

Jason Maloney/For Agri-View

Rail cars

Train cars loaded with shipping containers line the tracks at the Bailey Yard in North Platte, Nebraska. The railyard is the largest in the nation. Because shipping containers are unloaded from ships full of cargo from foreign nations and then loaded onto trucks and trains, the shipping method is called intermodal shipping. Intermodal shipping by rail decreased nationwide in September.

Jason Maloney/For Agri-View

Barge

A river barge is loaded with grain at Red Wing, Minnesota. It remains to be seen how a lack of foreign customers for U.S.-grown grain due to the ongoing trade war will influence the total amount of grain shipped from the bumper crop grown in the Midwest this past growing season.

Jason Maloney/For Agri-View

Ship

The ship Floragracht stands at dock in Duluth, Minnesota. The ship flies the flag of the Netherlands; it was built in 2011 in China. Many ships built in foreign nations are now charged fees to dock in the United States. Eventually it’s likely that the cost of the fees will be passed on to customers.

Jason Maloney/For Agri-View

Ship

The Algoma Equinox appears out of fog as it transits the Wisconsin entrance to Port Duluth-Superior on the way to open water in Lake Superior. The bulk carrier was built in China in 2013; it flies the flag of Canada. The ship transports ore and grain in the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence Seaway. Port calls from Canadian ships are fewer so far this season compared to the previous year.

Jason Maloney/For Agri-View

Combine in field

A combine and grain truck stand in a freshly harvested grain field near Niagara, Wisconsin.

Jason Maloney/For Agri-View

Combine in field

Corn is harvested in a field near Coleman, Wisconsin. Many are wondering what effects the trade war will have on agricultural commodities in the coming months.

Jason Maloney/For Agri-View

Ship

The Whitefish Bay, a ship belonging to the Canada Steamship Line, floats at anchor outside the Wisconsin entrance to Port Duluth-Superior on Wisconsin’s Lake Superior shore. Though fewer ships from Canada have made calls at the port this season, the effects of the ongoing trade war between the United States and other nations of the world are still being assessed.

Jason Maloney/For Agri-View

Ship

The American Century takes on a cargo of iron ore in Port Duluth-Superior. The 1,000-foot-long laker has a capacity of almost 81,000 tons of ore or coal. The ship was built in 1981 in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin; it flies the flag of the United States. The newest U.S.-built ship on the Great Lakes, the MV Mark W. Barker, was built in Sturgeon Bay and launched in 2023. It was the first ship built in the United States for use on the Great Lakes since 1983.

Jason Maloney/For Agri-View

Jason Maloney For Agri-View

The study of shipping and the patterns associated with it can provide clues to the health of the economy. The same study of shipping can provide a window to international relations, especially because trade is being used as a weapon in the trade wars that broke out earlier this year.

Jason Maloney mug — Jason Maloney and Red

Jason Maloney is an “elderly” farm boy from Marinette County, Wisconsin. He’s a retired educator, a retired soldier and a lifelong Wisconsin resident. He lives on the shore of Lake Superior with his wife, Cindy Dillenschneider, and Red, a sturdy loyal Australian Shepherd.

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