38 • Summer 2018 • http://www.shipsmonthly.com
a FresH Water sea
the st Lawrence and Great
Lakes seaway system
Jim Shaw examines North America’s St Lawrence/Great Lakes Seaway System
and some of the older vessels found there.
T
he fresh waters
of the North
American Great
Lakes have
always offered
an interesting collection of
shipping, both active and on
static display. Since 1959, with
the completion of the various
locks of the St Lawrence/
Great Lakes Seaway System,
oceangoing vessels measuring
up to 740ft by 78ft have been
able to move through the St
Lawrence River locks, across
Lake Ontario and on through
the Welland Canal locks into
lakes Erie, Huron and Michigan.
The Soo Locks, at Sault Ste
Marie, give a further step up
to the 602ft elevation of Lake
Superior and the giant Poe
Lock there, measuring 1,200ft(370m) by 110ft (34m),
allows passage of the largest
Great Lakes bulk carriers.
Winter weather, and the need
to do annual maintenance on
the lock mechanisms, sees the
system shut down for two to
three months each year, usually
between January and March.
Two distinct trades are
carried out on the
Lakes: trade with the
outside world and
trade within the lakes.
In an average
year, some 2,000commercial vessels will transit
from the open ocean through
the system’s locks and channels
to collect and discharge cargo
at US and Canadian ports.
Much of the inbound freight
is manufactured steel and
machinery, while outbound
cargo is generally bulk grain,
ore and coal. The latter two
commodities, along with
limestone and salt, are also
moved between ports
within the Lakes, the fi rst
three for the regional steel-
making industry and salt
for winter use on icy roads.
Before the various locksystems were built, a collection
of sailing vessels, early steamers
and ‘package freighters’, the
latter fi tted with side ports and
‘tween decks for general cargo
handling, traded on the Lakes.
The discovery of iron ore in
the 1840s, however, was to
prove instrumental in bringing
deep-draught shipping to
the Lakes, with ore carriage
predominating after 1888.
Iron ore today is handled
in pelletised form, with the
average Great Lakes ore carrier
accommodating over nine billion
‘taconite pellets’ per voyage.
Because the Soo Locks, whichBuilt in 1966, and operated by
Algoma Central, the 28,754dwt
Algosteel is one of the traditional
house-forward and self-unloading
gear aft bulk carriers serving the
Great Lakes. DaviD Ruff