Record freeze prompts shippers to request more icebreakers

摘要

Great Lakes shippers are asking Congress to beef up the U.S. Coast Guard's icebreaking fleet after the regional economy was frozen by last year's record winter. Jim Weakley, president of the Cleveland-based Lake Carriers' Association, said shippers lost $705 million in revenue and an estimated 3,800 jobs due to the thickest and most expansive ice cover on the lakes in 35 years.