Canadian grain shipments float St. Lawrence Seaway’s volume

   A bumper crop of Canadian grain has led to a 70-percent increase in maritime shipments via the St. Lawrence Seaway over last year’s season, according to the Chamber of Marine Commerce.
   The St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp. reported that while combined Canada-U.S. grain shipments are up 55 percent, Canadian grain shipments alone from March 25 to July 31 totaled 3.6 million metric tons. 
   “The Great Lakes-Seaway system has always been a strong export route for grain, but this season has really demonstrated that farmers would have been in great difficulty without it. Marine shipping on the seaway is preventing huge transportation bottlenecks, and we’re looking forward to moving the next harvest this fall,” said Bruce Hodgson, director of market development for the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp., in a statement.
   The chamber noted more than 2,500 railcars of Prairie grain are being unloaded each week at Canada’s Port of Thunder Bay. Last year, the weekly average was 939 railcars. For the third month in a row, ocean and domestic vessels carried 1 million metric tons of grain out of the port and through the St. Lawrence Seaway in July, and August is expected to be the same, the chamber added. 
   “We have 1.2 million metric tons of storage capacity, and we have the ocean and domestic carriers to handle these volumes, with forecasters talking about another good harvest on its way,” said Tim Heney, president and chief executive officer of the Thunder Bay Port Authority.