Shipped tonnage of both iron ore and grain of cargo were down through October this year, but North American grain and iron ore exports have kept Great Lakes-Seaway shipping “on course” in October, according to the latest report from the Chamber of Marine Commerce.

Grain tonnage was only off about a quarter of a percent from last year’s tally through October, while iron ore was down almost 10 percent, from 5.024 million metric tons through October 2015, compared with 4.531 million tons this year, the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation says.

But a recent surge of U.S. iron ore pellet exports to Japan and China is keeping the Seaway busy in the critical months before the shipping season winds down.

U.S. grain totaled 1.8 million metric tons for that period, just slightly ahead of the 2015 season’s robust performance.

Liquid bulk shipments were up the most, with a gain of 22.61 percent, from 2.441 million tons last year to 2.993 million tons so far this year.

Total Seaway year-to-date shipments for 2016 (March 21 through October 31) have reached nearly 25.8 million metric tons, down 5 percent over 2015, but an improvement over earlier in the season, the CMC says.

Vessel transits were actually up by 0.62 percent by the end of October, at 2,907, compared with 2,889 last year through October.