by Canadian Sailings | Jul 4, 2018 | Other, St. Lawrence, Seaway and Great Lakes
Robust grain exports through the St. Lawrence Seaway this spring were not sufficient to overcome declines in other product categories resulting from a slow start due to difficult ice conditions in the Great Lakes. Canadian and U.S. grain shipments via the St. Lawrence Seaway totaled 2.2 million tonnes, up 8.6 per cent compared to the same period last year. Overall cargo tonnage from March 29 to May 31 reached 7.9 million tonnes, down close to four per cent over the same period in 2017. (more…)
by Canadian Sailings | Jul 4, 2018 | Other, St. Lawrence, Seaway and Great Lakes
The U.S. Coast Guard published its final 2018 rates for Great Lakes pilotage services. The new hourly rates are estimated to generate a total of $25,156,442 in revenue for the three Great Lakes pilot companies, representing an increase of $2,830,061 from 2017 – or 12.7 per cent increase in total cost over last year. (more…)
by Canadian Sailings | May 16, 2018 | St. Lawrence, Seaway and Great Lakes, Supply Chain and Logistics, Top Stories
In the space of a few short years, the Port of Hamilton has emerged as southern Ontario’s primary export gateway for Ontario-grown grain, and the nucleus of an expanding food cluster within the region.
In 2017, the Port of Hamilton handled its highest-ever total of agricultural products. Close to 2.3 million metric tonnes (MT) of commodities such as Ontario-grown corn, wheat and soybeans, as well as canola, sugar, potash and other fertilizers were handled through the port. Agricultural cargoes now make up 23 per cent of the port’s total, up from 12.5 per cent in 2010. (more…)
by Canadian Sailings | Feb 4, 2018 | Business and Economy, Mark Cardwell, Ocean, Other, Ports and Terminals, St. Lawrence, Seaway and Great Lakes
By Mark Cardwell
The port of Sept-Îles is quickly becoming a popular international cruise ship destination in Eastern Canada. Eight years after its inaugural cruise season, when it welcomed three ships with 5,000 passengers, the port was visited eight times by five different ships carrying a total of 8,000 passengers during the 2017 sailing season.
The last and most notable visit was an unexpected stopover by the Queen Mary 2. The 350-metre-long ship was scheduled to make its inaugural visit to Sept-Îles on Sept. 28, 2018. However, the Cunard-owned transatlantic ocean liner made an unscheduled stop on October 2, and berthed there from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The 8-hour stop was booked just two weeks earlier to replace a visit to the port of Gaspé that Cunard cancelled over the speed limit that Canada imposed in a section of the Gulf of the St. Lawrence to protect endangered right whales.
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by Canadian Sailings | Feb 4, 2018 | Other, St. Lawrence, Seaway and Great Lakes, Supply Chain and Logistics
Year to date St. Lawrence Seaway cargo volumes to date are ahead of equivalent 2016 numbers by 10 per cent, as the shipping season enters its busiest final months. According to The St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation, total cargo tonnage from March 20 to October 31 reached 28.7 million metric tonnes – 2.5 million metric tonnes more compared to the same period in 2016.
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by Canadian Sailings | Oct 15, 2017 | Other, St. Lawrence, Seaway and Great Lakes
The Government of Québec has agreed to provide $ 914,250 in financial assistance to Ocean Marine Works Inc. for the development of its lifting barge under the Marine Transportation Infrastructure Investment Support Program, as part of a total project cost of $1.8 million.
The lifting barge, designed and to be manufactured by Ocean’s team, will facilitate the loading and unloading of cargo by raising or lowering a platform on the barge to dock level, enabling vehicles to be driven on or off, without requiring the services of a crane. This solution complements existing means of loading and unloading, and will promote shipping on the St. Lawrence River.
Jacques Tanguay, Ocean’s CEO, commented that, “The ingenuity of our team has made it possible to create a new solution to an age-old problem that will complement and facilitate short sea shipping on the Saint Lawrence. This project fits perfectly with the objectives of the government of Quebec’s Maritime Strategy.”
