WASHINGTON, D.C. – The St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corp. has announced that November shipments through the Great Lakes were up 1.23 percent from last year, some 33 million metric tons.

The report showed that the Port of Indiana-Burns Harbor reported increases in most major commodities. “Even with a month left in the shipping season, the Port of Indiana-Burns Harbor handled more cargo this year than any other years since 2006,” said Rich Cooper, CEO of the Ports of Indiana. “Our shipments of steel, coal, fertilizer, wheat, limestone, oil and road salt have all well surpassed last year’s final totals. We were fortunate to have a spike in our coal business and handled nearly four times as much coal as we did in 2010. We’ve also had large volumes of barge shipments moving steel, fertilizer, grain, asphalt and project cargo within the Lakes and through the Mississippi River system to and from the Gulf of Mexico.”