St. Lawrence Seaway tonnage totals are down by more than 4% this year from last year.

The St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation in Cornwall, Ont. reports that totals are down by 4.66% for the year through July compared with the same period last year.

2018 was a strong year for Seaway shipping. The SLSMC reported tonnage during the 2018 navigation season totaled 40.9 million metric tons, the highest result since 2007. Much of the increase was due to “healthy movements of grain, the best on record since the turn of the century,” a January report from the SLSMC said.

But this year, nearly all cargo categories are lower so far. General cargo is down from 1.53 million metric tons in January through July 2018, to .99 million tons this year through July, a drop of 35.33%, according to the report. Coal shipments are down by 15.6%. Grain, easily the largest category, is down 3.88%, from 4.47 million tons to 4.3 million tons, a drop of 3.88%.

The bright spot is dry bulk, which is up 14% from 4.28 million tons in 2018 through July to 4.89 million tons this year.