Furthering the potential of North America’s Great Lakes trade corridor for a stronger supply chain

At a time when commercial transportation networks are more constrained than ever, it seems unlikely that an existing transit asset with significant available capacity would already be established and ready to achieve its fullest potential. But that is exactly the case with the 3,700-kilometre Great Lakes/St. Lawrence Seaway system known as Highway H2O. 

Currently, Highway H2O serves two Canadian provinces, eight U.S. states and more than 100 ports and commercial docks connected to over 40 provincial and interstate highways, plus 30 railway lines. Still, this represents only 60 per cent of the Seaway’s operating rate and supply chain advocates say the time has come to boost its usage. 

“The Seaway corridor offers opportunities to move cargo closer to final destinations,” says Leslie Drynan, general manager at the Port of Johnstown.  

“Opening up the Seaway would help relieve stress in the Montreal, St. John and Halifax ports, where containers frequently wait days to be loaded onto trucks or trains,” says Anne Waldes, president and chief executive officer of logistics specialist Trade Link International Ltd., adding that congestion on highways and border crossings would be relieved too. 

Drynan and Waldes note that businesses are looking for alternatives to gateway delays and long inland truck movements and they think Highway H20 is ideally suited to help achieve this. 

“The Great Lakes–St. Lawrence Seaway is often described as the ‘Main Street of North America’ and one of the biggest opportunities for Canada’s supply chain is better utilization of existing Seaway capacity,” Drynan says. “The Seaway is a great chance to move cargo further inland and bring goods closer to manufacturers and distributors without having to build new transportation corridors.” 

The increase would be timely on an international level, given studies such as one recently published by Aviseo Consulting, which calculates that marine transport overall will grow a staggering 327 per cent between 2010 and 2050. 

Greater use of the Seaway would also support sustainability goals. Every kilometre that cargo travels by water instead of road helps reduce emissions, making marine transportation a lower-impact option within a more resilient supply chain. 

But how feasible would it be to increase Seaway traffic? “Critics have argued that it can’t accommodate Panamax-sized vessels, but other classes of container ships navigate the waterway,” Drynan says. “Also, the Seaway closes yearly for maintenance — but careful scheduling could allow the work to be performed while keeping the waterway open year-round.” 

The Port of Johnstown, which facilitates the movement of agricultural products, road salt, fertilizer, project cargo, steel products and increasingly diversified cargo streams supporting Canadian and North American industries, would benefit significantly from increased Seaway usage. As one of the few ports in Eastern Ontario with direct marine, rail and highway connectivity, Johnstown plays an important role in reducing transportation bottlenecks. “We’re ideally positioned to act as a distribution hub for Eastern Ontario, Western Quebec and the Ottawa Valley, while also providing access to U.S. markets,” Drynan says. 

Continued collaboration among ports, carriers, freight forwarders, governments and industry partners will be essential to realizing the Seaway’s full potential. Drynan is excited about what may lie ahead. 

“Greater utilization of the Seaway would create opportunities to diversify cargo streams beyond traditional bulk commodities,” she says. “It would provide critical redundancy and resilience by offering an alternative route for cargo movement. Plus, more vessel calls would generate direct economic benefits through marine services, terminal operations, trucking, rail movements, warehousing and supply chain support activities — as well as support future infrastructure investments. 

“For decades, we’ve talked about congestion at our major gateways, yet we have a world-class marine corridor with available capacity running directly into the heart of North America. By leveraging the capacity within the Seaway system, we can build a supply chain that is more resilient, more sustainable and better positioned to support economic growth on both sides of the border.”  

This feature was created by Content Works, Postmedia’s commercial content division, on behalf of St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation.