COAL - Clpdigital.org

36 THE COAL TRADE BULLETIN.
TRAFFIC ON THE GREAT LAKES.
On the Great Lakes traffic movements were of
heavy volume during August, receipts for the
month amounting to 9,501,759 tons, as against
8,984,280 tons in 1904 and 8,407,754 tons in 1903,
as shown by the bureau of statistics of the department
of commerce and labor. Shipments, which
totaled 9.435.179 tons during the eight months of
the current year, were composed of the following
items: 137,244 net tons of flour. 17,217,120 bushels
of grain and flaxseed. 2.155,913 net tons of coal.
4,884.213 net tons of ore and minerals. 249,072
M. feet of logs and lumber, and 705.061 net tons
Of unclassified freight. During the first eight
months of the current year shipments from various
points on the Great Lakes totaled 40,540,912
tons, while a similar movement in 1904 amounted
to 24,857,888 tons, and in 1903 to 36,711,827 tons.
The great increase shown for the present year, as
compared with that for 1904, was due, at least
to a large extent, to an earlier opening of navigation
and freedom from labor difficulties.
During July, 9,321,097 net tons of freight were
received at the various lake ports, in contrast
with a similar inbound movement in 1904 of 8,-
507,192 tons and in 1903 of 7.876,410 tons. During
the first seven months of the current year similar
receipts amounted to 29.127.418 tons, as against
15,161,455 tons in 1904 and 26,951.018 tons in 1903.
The current year's inbound movement was divided
into 396,563 tons of flour, 52,123.957 bushels of
grain and flaxseed, 5,734,486 tons of coal, 15,518,752
gross tons of ore and minerals, 869,975 M. feet of
logs and lumber, and 2,347,431 net tons of unclassified
freight. The commerce through the Sault Ste.
Marie canals at Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., and Ontario,
Canada, during July totaled 6,703,760 tons,
as against a corresponding movement in 1904 of
5.609,079 tons and in 1903 of 5,279,428 tons. Of
the movement for the seventh month of the current
year, 5,494,878 tons moved eastward and 1.-
208.882 tons westward, while of the total movement
in both directions 5,873,743 net tons passed
the United States canal and 830.017 net tons
through the Canadian canal. Among the items
prominent in the eastbound movement may be
mentioned 5,044.012 tons of iron ore, 2,701.165
bushels of wheat, and 1.551.251 bushels of grain
other than wheat. The principal item in the
westbound movement consists of 940.884 net tons
of soft coal. During the present season, to and
including July 31. 19.837,204 net tons of freight
passed through the canals at Sault Ste. Marie, an
amount over 10% million tons in excess of a similar
movement in 1904, and considerably over 2'2
million tons heavier than that for 1903. Of the
present year's movement, 16,490,111 tons represented
an eastbound movement and 3,347,093 tons
a westbound movement, while of the freight pass­
ing in both directions, 16,689,042 tons moved
through the United States canal and 3.148,162 tons
through the canal in Canadian territory.
WELSH COAL IN FOREIGN MARKETS.
Welsh coal is used principally for naval and
manufacturing purposes. Its superior calorific
power, combined with its weathering capabilities,
have given it a peculiar advantage over other
coals for the use of mercantile steamships, and
it is mainly in virtue of this advantage that the
steam coal of South Wales has now for about
twenty-five years occupied its unique position at
the various coaling depots along the trade routes
of the world, according to the London Times.
Last year the quantity of coal exported from Cardiff
was 14,920,610 tons, and from all the South
Wales ports over 21.000,000 tons, or just half the
total coal export trade of the whole of the country,
ln France and Italy the railways as well as
the steamship lines are large customers, but the
following figures will give an idea of the extent
to which Cardiff coal is shipped to the depots
where mercantile steamships and war ships call
in order to refill their bunkers.
The nearest and by far the greatest market is
in the Mediterranean, and the following were
the exports from Cardiff in 1904 to some of the
ports on the French, Italian and Egyptian coasts:
Alexandria, 503,000 tons; Bordeaux, 285.000 tons;
Constantinople. 136.000 tons; Genoa, 970.bOO tons;
Gibraltar, 189,826 tons; Marseilles, 331,157 tons;
Malta, 342,106 tons; and Port Said, 1.114,086 tons.
To Madeira and the Canary Islands the exports
amounted to over 600,000 tons; to Aden, 167,000
tons; to Cape Town, 317,000 tons; to Colombo,
280,000 tons; to the Philippines, 57,000 tons; to
Hongkong, 582,596 tons; to Singapore, 113,000
tons; to Shanghai. 141,000 tons; and over 1,200,-
000 tons went to Uruguay and the Argentine Republic.
Other depots might have been mentioned
but these figures, though in a few cases of an
exceptional character, suffice to show how largely
supplied is the world's mercantile marine with
the "black diamonds" of the South Wales coal
field, and incidentally to explain how it is that
Cardiff clears more tonnage for foreign trade
than any other port in the world.
The question of how long Wales will be able
to continue in her present position as the main
source of the world's supply of this peculiarly
valuable kind of coal is agitating the minds of
Welsh colliers. India, Japan, Australia, the
United States, and other countries are not only
securing sufficient coal for their own fires at
home, but are beginning to export to places
hitherto entirely or almost entirely supplied by
Wales.