St. Lawrence Seaway has another long season
The St. Lawrence Seaway said it was open for 283 days in 2007, tying a record set the prior year.
With shipping volumes experiencing a rebound after a modest start to the season, the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp. said total seaway cargo volume for 2007 is estimated at 42.7 million tons, down from 47 million tons in 2006.
The corporation blamed the lower volumes to “lower ocean vessel traffic and steel imports into the seaway.”
“We are satisfied with our accomplishments in 2007” said Richard Corfe, president and chief executive officer of the corporation. “We are particularly optimistic that the momentum in project cargoes that we observed this year will carry forward into the future. Shipments of specialty cargoes such as wind turbine components, destined for various “green energy” projects throughout eastern North America, have become a hallmark of the seaway’s drive to diversify its cargo base.”
Collister “Terry” Johnson Jr., U.S. administrator of the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corp., said: “Completion of the bi-national, interagency Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway Study provides a 50-year roadmap for a modernized, sustainable marine system, one that could attract new markets while potentially serving as a means of reducing surface congestion; and we have made progress towards harmonized ballast water rules with our Canadian counterparts to increase protection against the introduction of aquatic invasive species into the Great Lakes.”