Canada’s St Lawrence Seaway volumes surge

Canada’s St Lawrence Seaway has logged a strong increase in cargo volumes for 2014 as grain business boomed. Canada’s St Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation (SLSMC) said the total of 40m tonnes represented “a full recovery from the 2009 global financial crisis and its ensuing aftermath.” Volume was also up 7% on 2013.
Grain was accompanied by strong volumes of iron and steel products and shipments of road salt to replenish inventories that had been severely depleted during the harsh winter of 2013.
Influx of ocean-going vessels into the Canada’s St Lawrence Seaway was unprecedented in recent history, with more than 50 ships on the route on multiple occasions. Carriers moved over 12m tonnes of grain through Canada’s St Lawrence Seaway locks, the highest volume since the turn of the century some 14 years ago.