News File Photo The Arthur M. Anderson passes a frozen Rogers City shore in November 2019 in this News file photo. The Anderson was the last ship to have radio contact with the captain of the Edmund Fitzgerald before that ship’s famous sinking in 1975 and was part of the rescue effort for the Fitzgerald’s crew.

ALPENA — After a challenging year of delivering limestone, coal ore, and other essential goods, the shipping industry finished the season strong, according to Eric Peace, operations and communications director for the Lake Carriers’ Association.

Though a dozen freighters — including at least three that employ sailors from Northeast Michigan — were laid up over the summer when demand for iron ore and limestone dwindled amid the coronavirus pandemic, freighters were once again busily making deliveries by the close of the season on Jan. 16, Peace said.

Cargo reports from the Lake Carriers’ Association show an overall decrease in shipments in 2020. Iron ore was down 23% from last year, and limestone shipments from U.S. ports decreased by about 18% since the 2019 season.

Demand for both materials plummeted when car manufacturers and other industries shut down in response to the pandemic.

Once those businesses reopened, freighters were busy meeting a huge push to resupply manufacturers, Peace said.

Winter stockpiles will dwindle by spring, Peace said, and freighters will once again have to slide into action at the beginning of the 2021 season, marked by the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway in late March.

He can’t predict what next year’s shipping season will look like, Peace said, but, “all indications are that we’re going to pick up where we left off.”

Unusually low ice cover, other than in the Duluth area, has made late-season delivery easier. That’s not indicative of a trend, said Peace, noting that the ice cover in 2018 and 2019 was “horrific,” keeping ice breakers busy and damaging freighters.

There’s still plenty of time for lake ice to form before locks open on March 25, and weather experts predict polar vortexes that could add substantial ice to the Great Lakes “and be hugely impactful, because we’ve got to get as much product to the docks as we can,” Peace said.

In Alpena, the Lafarge Alpena plant experienced little to no effect on cement distribution during the 2020 shipping season, according to spokesman Travis Weide.

The cement market fluctuated during 2020, but, overall, demand remained stable and the plant experienced “sold-out market conditions,” Weide said.

The most recent traffic at the LaFarge port was the departure of a barge on Monday, according to boatnerd.com. On Tuesday, a tug and tanker barge left the Carmeuse Lime and Stone port in Rogers City, bound for Cheboygan.

The freighter Alpena has been laid up in Cleveland since Jan. 13.

Julie Riddle can be reached at 989-358-5693, jriddle@thealpenanews.com or on Twitter @jriddleX.