The effects of a harsh winter on Great Lakes shipping were felt well into April in Green Bay, but officials are optimistic about recovery.

The Port of Green Bay saw five ships transit the port last month, down from 15 in April 2013, dropping the amount of cargo moving through the port by 70 percent from the same time last year.

The port handled 57,815 tons of cargo in April, down from 195,875 tons the previous April.

¡°When you look at April ... it¡¯s not an indication of a lack of economic activity, it was more weather-related,¡± said Dean Haen, who heads up the Brown County Port & Resource Recovery Department.

¡°Some of the cargo is gone, it moved by a different mode ... but other tonnage will come. ... Things that are water dependent, like limestone and salt, those will come and we will get our needed supply. It¡¯ll just come during a shorter window of time.¡±

Shipping activity in Green Bay usually gets underway right around April 1. The first ship entered the port April 18 ¡ª about three weeks late. There have been seasons where the port has opened as early as March 15.

¡°Last year (2013) was a cold, long, winter, but we had ships in here before the end of March,¡± Haen said.

Heavy ice on the Great Lakes ¡ª coupled with a cold spring ¡ª conspired to slow the start of the 2014 shipping season. A slow start was expected given some of the ice conditions on the lakes were as severe as they have been in a generation of maritime workers.

The port handled 2.2 million tons of cargo in 2013, a season cut short by about two weeks with an early onset of winter conditions. Two million tons is generally considered a good year for the Port of the Green Bay.

¡°If the economic conditions hold as I hope they will, we¡¯ll never even remember the fact we lost a couple weeks,¡± Haen said.

Ice cover on the Great lakes was at about 9.1 percent Sunday, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Peak ice cover on the lakes was about 92 percent in March, the most in more than three decades.

Haen said May ship traffic to Green Bay has been steady.

¡°There are ships coming,¡± he said. ¡°Just Friday, we had two in port at the same time, so it¡¯s getting to be busy.¡±