Savings ?minimal? from St. Lawrence Seaway

Savings æminimalÆ from St. Lawrence Seaway    A new survey shows that transportation savings associated with the St. Lawrence Seaway's overseas trade are about $55 million annually, lower than previously reckoned, which may force regulators to rethink the amount of controls on ocean shipping on the Great Lakes.
   'That's not a very big number. I thought it would be a bit more,' said John Taylor, an associate professor of marketing at Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids, Mich., who has spent months analyzing traffic flows on the Great Lakes and the Seaway.
   Taylor said ceasing ocean shipping on the Great Lakes would result in a transportation cost penalty of $54.9 million per year, 'relatively low due to the fairly small volume of ocean tonnage, and the fact that rail, laker and barge options are quite competitive.'
   While admitting that shipping rates can swing significantly, Taylor called his study an 'accurate snapshot.' He explained that the level of transportation cost savings associated with the Seaway is important in order to understand the problems created by ocean vessel-borne invasive species. Policymakers have long believed that the transportation cost benefits of ocean tonnage on the Great Lakes were critical. The new information could bring about a revision in the regulation of ocean ships entering the freshwater lakes.
   Taylor's findings were funded by a grant from the Joyce Foundation in Chicago. For the full report, see https://www.gvsu.edu/forms/business/OceanShippingReport091105.pdf .