Great Lakes Shipping

The inland sea system that moves iron ore, limestone and grain through America's industrial core.

Overview

Lakers, ships up to 300 meters long that never leave the system, haul taconite iron ore from Duluth and Marquette to the steel mills of Gary and Cleveland, along with limestone, coal, salt and grain, moving well over 100 million tonnes a year within the lakes. The Soo Locks at Sault Sainte Marie pass almost everything, with the Poe Lock alone handling around ninety percent of traffic, a single point of failure that government studies have warned about for decades. Ice closes most of the fleet from January to March. The lakes are a freight machine hiding in plain sight.