Monday, April 27, 2015

Catch Up Week, Part 3: Ohio River traffic, first quarter, by the numbers

As I've often noted, there are fewer boats going up and down the Ohio River -- at least in my part of it -- than there were a few years ago. There are even fewer than last year. Here, based on numbers compiled on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers web site, are tonnage numbers for the twenty locks and dams on the Ohio, from Pittsburgh to Cairo.


Ohio River cargo movements, first quarter 2015


Tons in thousands






TOTAL 1Q
Pct Change

TOTAL
Coal
Petrol
TOTAL
Coal
Petrol
Emsworth
3717.59
2959.4
211.83
-8%
-9%
-4%
Dashields
3843.8
2931.1
383.94
-8%
-11%
19%
Montgomery
3930.2
2716.27
394.11
-15%
-19%
26%
New Cumberland
6296.02
3741.4
759.48
-14%
-28%
37%
Pike Island
7100.18
4181.3
969.4
-9%
-23%
36%
Hannibal
9980.4
6561.31
965.3
-3%
-13%
40%
Willow Island
9604
6143.01
980.3
0%
-10%
45%
Belleville
9954.38
6090.01
1049.34
-2%
-12%
22%
Racine
10443.74
6456.17
1079.51
-2%
-11%
22%
RCByrd
8800.53
3894.91
1439.52
-7%
-27%
20%
Greenup
9104.22
3262.69
1965.09
-8%
-28%
3%
Meldahl
9951.28
4052.48
1948.17
-10%
-28%
7%
Markland
11355.73
4582.39
1464.49
-16%
-28%
5%
McAlpine
15040.29
7651.68
1548.74
-14%
-17%
11%
Cannelton
15917.45
7694.03
1265.13
-8%
-17%
10%
Newburgh
17321.7
8096.52
1364.04
-13%
-23%
11%
JTMyers
15521.54
4074.06
1399.37
-7%
-25%
11%
Smithland
15796.97
4528.86
1359.95
-12%
-22%
8%
LD 52
19093.7
3631.33
1408.87
-12%
-27%
2%
LD 53
18889.23
2439.86
1394.52
-3%
-12%
-2%



I did an article a couple of weeks ago for The State Journal, the weekly newspaper in Charleston where I once worked full-time. In the article, I noted the increase in petroleum shipments and tried to get comment from Marathon Petroleum, unsuccessfully. The State Journal focuses on West Virginia, so my article did, too.

These numbers are the what, not the why, of course. But the federal Energy Information Administration is predicting a decrease nationally in coal production this year, and with coal being the major commodity moved on all but the lower part of the Ohio, it's no surprise that traffic numbers are down.