While there have been locks on the Saint Lawrence River since at least 1862, the St. Lawrence Seaway, the current series of locks, canals and channels that permit ocean-going vessels to travel from the Atlantic Ocean to the North American Great Lakes, only fully  opened in 1959.

Seaway Concludes 50th Anniversary Season

The St. Lawrence Seaway concluded its 50th anniversary season on December 28 with the passage of the JW Shelley. The vessel transited the Iroquois Lock at 7:37 p.m. on route to Lake Ontario. The Seaway navigation season for 2009 spanned 274 days.

Total Seaway cargo volume for 2009 is estimated to amount to 30.5 million tonnes, the lowest volume witnessed since the early 1960’s. The 25% decrease in cargo volume compared to 2008 can be attributed to the depth of the recession, which sharply curtailed movements of iron ore and steel on the waterway.

“Given the Seaway’s reliance upon the steel industry for a substantial portion of our business, the economic downturn during the last year has certainly impacted our traffic level” commented Richard Corfe, President and CEO of The St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation (SLSMC). “The depth of this downturn underscores the importance of the SLSMC’s efforts to diversify our cargo base, and we are working diligently on a number of fronts to attain this goal”.

Thanks to Dexter Donham for the reference.