Great Lakes shipping at low tide

DETROIT, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- The recession hit Great Lakes shipping so hard in 2009 that some tankers never left their home berths, a shipping trade group said.

Great Lakes shipping dropped 35 percent in 2009 compared to 2008, The Detroit News reported Tuesday.

Mark Barker, president of the Interlake Steamship Co., said two of his ships never made it out of port. Glen Nekvasil, vice president of corporate communications for the Lake Carriers' Association trumped that number. "We had seven total ships that never even sailed this year," he said.

Throughout the Great Lakes, ships hauled 60.35 million tons of goods and raw materials this year through the end of November. In the previous year, ships hauled 95.18 million tons, the newspaper said.

An economic recovery would prompt a quick resurgence, Nekvasil said.

"Next year, if the steel mills are operating at 96 percent of capacity, the full slate of ships will be going out again," Nekvasil said.

"If the construction industry gets ramped up and boosted by federal stimulus dollars, the ships moving limestone will fit out and sail from April through the end of the year. But you can't haul limestone the customer doesn't need," he said.