“When we lose sailing days, it is very hard to recover the cargo that has been lost because of those delays," said Nekvasil. "The ships are already running at their maximum safe speed, and you really can’t load a boat any faster or unload it any faster. So, when we lose the ‘steaming days,’ we lose cargo.”

The U.S. Coast Guard expects most of the ice in Lake Erie to break up within a few days, while ice in other parts of the Great Lakes could be around for a few more weeks.