The Seaway Strike is a Hot Mess. Canada Needs to Fix It
EDITORIAL: Last Saturday night at midnight, the employees of the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation (SLSMC) went on strike, shutting down Canadian portions of the St. Lawrence Seaway, a binational waterway connecting the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean. That night, the flow of commerce through the waterway ceased, resulting in a disruption of trade to our ports, lost jobs in our communities, and millions in economic harm compounding every day.
At our ports, stevedores and longshoremen have no ships to unload, marine pilots are out of work, trucking companies have no deliveries to make, and tugboats are idle. Our customers are making plans now to reroute their products through east coast ports.
Despite these negative impacts, there seems to be no urgency to resolving the strike. The parties did not meet Sunday, nor Monday. They did not meet Tuesday. They have no plans to meet today, nor tomorrow. The casual pace at which the parties and the Canadian Government are approaching the resolution of this crisis is an outrage. It is a slap in the face to the many Americans and Canadians who are suffering job loss.
This is not just any labor dispute; it is a labor dispute affecting an international commercial waterway owned by the Canadian and U.S. Governments and operated in the public interest. While the SLSMC and its union are at the negotiating table, their dispute is negatively effecting hundreds of companies and thousands of people whose livelihood depends on the freight that moves through the waterway. None of these companies have a seat at the table. None of their employees have a voice, yet they suffer.
Despite claims that they are “engaged,” the Canadian Labour and Transport Ministers appear to be slow-walking the resolution of this strike. While we don’t take sides in the dispute, we do demand that the Government of Canada demonstrate greater urgency in bringing this to an end.
A 2020 economic analysis determined that a two-week closure of the Seaway would result in the loss of more than 19,000 jobs in the United States and Canada. With a week now wasted, and many days of negotiations still pending, these job losses are certain.
Shame!
American Journal of Transportation
USS Marinette Stuck As Seaway Workers Strike
The Navy’s newest Littoral Combat Ship cannot make its way to the Atlantic Ocean after finding itself in the middle of a strike by St. Lawrence Seaway employees. The St. Lawrence Seaway employees, represented by Unifor, went on strike Sunday, after the union and employer failed to reach an agreement, according to a press release from Unifor.
Canada’s CBC reported that the workers at 13 of the 15 locks are on the picket line, shutting down the corridor on the St. Lawrence River to the Atlantic Ocean. USS Marinette (LCS-25), commissioned in September, is currently in Lake Erie, moored in Cleveland, Ohio, unable to get to the Atlantic Ocean, as that would require going through the seaway.
“Unifor members did not undertake strike action lightly and it is our hope that the employer will resolve this dispute as quickly as possible so that normal shipping traffic can resume,” Unifor said in a statement to USNI News. The union will return back to the negotiation table on Friday.
The Navy acknowledged a request for comment from USNI News but did not provide a statement
This is not the first time a Littoral Combat Ship got stuck in the Great Lakes due to issues with the St. Lawrence Seaway. After USS Little Rock (LCS-9) commissioned, it got stuck in Montreal due to icy conditions on the seaway. The now decommissioned Little Rock was commissioned in December 2018 next to the USS Little Rock museum ship in Buffalo. The plan was for the Littoral Combat Ship to take the St. Lawrence Seaway to the Atlantic Ocean and then to Mayport, Fla., where it was homeported. However, icy conditions on the seaway meant the ship had to wait for the water to thaw out, USNI News reported at the time.
Marinette, which commissioned in September in Michigan, will also be homeported in Mayport, Fla.
USNI News
Impact of Seaway strike being felt at Wisconsin ports
MILWAUKEE, WI – The canals and locks of the St. Lawrence Seaway may be hundreds of miles east of Wisconsin, but the impact of a strike by Canadian canal employees is already being felt in the Badger State. Earlier this week, employees who control the operation of the seaway through Ontario and Quebec went on strike, closing the canals to vessel traffic. Ships that traverse both the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean aren’t able to travel between the two.
It is something staff at Wisconsin ports are watching closely. Port of Milwaukee Director Jackie Q. Woods said there are no oceangoing ships currently docked at the port because of the strike.
Woods said she worries about the effects it could have. “It is very concerning to us because it impacts our ability to move international goods. We have the ability to still take cargo from laker vessels,” Woods said. “Those are the vessels that move throughout the Great Lakes that don’t go into the international seaway, but there is no ability at this moment to move any international cargo.”
Other ports around Wisconsin also have concerns. The Port of Green Bay handles less international traffic than the Port of Milwaukee. Still, staff worry about the ripple effect canal closures could have even on domestic shipping.
Mark Walter is the Business Development Manager for the Port of Green Bay. Walter worries about what will happen if the strike goes on for an extended period of time. “When ships aren’t leaving the Great Lakes, it has a definite pushback on the Great Lakes,” said Walter. “More resources that are being kept within the Great Lakes and not moving cargo externally. We do get a variety of cargos coming from other areas of North America and Eastern seaboard that wouldn’t necessarily be able to get into the Great Lakes.”
Staff within the Port of Green Bay are currently drafting a letter to the Canadian Minister of Labor and Minister of Transport, highlighting the important role international cargo plays in the Green Bay economy and encouraging a quick resolution to the strike.
Spectrum News 1
Federal mediator calls for new talks in bid to end St. Lawrence Seaway strike
The strike by Canadian workers that closed the St. Lawrence Seaway is costing U.S. jobs at Great Lakes ports and manufacturers as ships are stranded and cargo is diverted to the East Coast, U.S. industry officials say. The 350 Unifor workers walked off the job on Sunday after talks broke down with the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp., which operates 13 of the 15 Seaway locks between Montreal and Lake Erie.
Negotiations on a collective agreement are scheduled to resume on Friday after a federal mediator on Tuesday afternoon called the sides back to the bargaining table. But the shutdown of the Seaway has already exacted a price from the Canadian and U.S. vessel owners, dock workers, and the manufacturers and producers that rely on the waterway.
The strike has closed the locks in and around Montreal and on the Welland Canal, which links Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. Inbound shipments of steel and iron ore are halted, as are exports of metals and grain, and the delivery of road salt ahead of the seasonal shutdown of Seaway shipping in late December.
Steve Fisher, executive director of the American Great Lakes Ports Association, said the shutdown of the Welland Canal is affecting U.S. ports in the Upper Great Lakes.
The strike has prevented the arrival of Canadian ships that move U.S. grain and other goods through the canal to ports in Quebec, where they are transloaded onto ocean-going vessels destined for Europe and Africa, he said. Additionally, inbound ships are prevented from reaching U.S. ports in the western part of the Great Lakes – including in Chicago, Detroit and Cleveland – with cargoes of steel from Europe intended for U.S. makers of car parts, appliances and canned food. Mr. Fisher said it is an “outrage” the two sides have not met for two days.
“The Canadian government owns the Seaway and we want the government to work with both sides to try to help them resolve this conflict,” Mr. Fisher said from Washington. “People are literally losing their jobs. Companies are losing millions of dollars a day as this Seaway strike continues.”
Gregg Ruhl, chief executive officer of Algoma Central Corp., the largest Canadian vessel fleet on the Great Lakes, said the contract talks should resume sooner than Friday.” Where’s the sense of urgency? What’s wrong with Wednesday and Thursday? Or tonight?” Mr. Ruhl said on Tuesday. “Meanwhile the raw materials that fuel industry, the grain that feeds the world, the salt that will keep our roads safe this winter, the aggregates to support construction, and the gasoline to fuel our vehicles are all stalled.”
Federal Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan told reporters on Tuesday he has had “extensive” talks with U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and others, and is urging the employer and union to hammer out a deal to limit the impact of the strike. “You’re talking about hundreds of communities that feed into the Great Lakes [and] trade that goes ultimately not just in other parts of Canada but also to the U.S., Europe and Africa,” Mr. O’Regan said in Ottawa.
The strike has marooned, among others, a grain ship in Duluth, Minn., destined for Europe, a U.S. Navy combat boat in Cleveland, and a French cruise ship in Toronto.
U.S. manufacturers are already talking to their shipping lines about diverting deliveries of steel to ports on the U.S. East Coast. This will mean less work for U.S. stevedores, truck drivers and others who rely on the ports for their livelihoods, while giving a lift to Atlantic Coast terminals, Mr. Fisher said. “They get more jobs and we get less jobs,” he said.
The strike comes at a critical time for the companies that trade on the waterway that links the heartland of North America with overseas markets. Before the strike, steel plants were stockpiling ship-borne ore and other raw materials ahead of the winter shutdown, and grain companies were busy loading bulk vessels with the recent harvest of canola, wheat and other grains for food makers in Europe and Africa.
“As the navigation season has a finite shipping period and is a critical aspect of our business, we are watching the situation closely and trust a swift resolution will be reached,” said Marie Verdun, a spokeswoman for ArcelorMittal Dofasco, which runs a steel plant in Hamilton on Lake Ontario.
Industry members on both sides of the Seaway said the shutdown has severed a key trade route and damaged Canada’s reputation as a reliable trading partner. Also at risk, said Aaron Bensinger, vice-president of operations at vessel agent Central Marine Logistics, is the cruise ship business on the Great Lakes, which is only just returning after the pandemic shutdown.
“It’s things like this that will scare those [cruise vessel] operators off eventually,” he said from Griffith, Ind., on the southern tip of Lake Michigan. “They need to know that they can get their ships in and out of the lakes without getting their ships stuck in jail, in a sense.”
Eric Peace is vice-president of the Lake Carriers’ Association, which represents the owners of the 46 U.S.-flagged ships that trade on the Upper Great Lakes. These vessels do not sail past Lake Erie because they are too big for the Welland Canal. However, Mr. Peace said when the strike is over a flood of ships will cause logjams at the Soo Locks that connect Lake Huron and Lake Superior. This will slow traffic as vessels and shippers try to complete deliveries and stockpile ore and other raw materials ahead of the Jan. 15 winter shutdown of the U.S.-managed Soo Locks.
“We’re all competing for the same locks and we’re all competing for the same docks,” Mr. Peace said from Cleveland.
Globe & Mail
Soo Locks Visitor Center to close for season Oct, 31
SAULT STE. MARIE, MI. – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers closes the Soo Locks Visitor Center in Canal Park at 7 p.m. Oct. 31 for the 2023 season. Visitor Center hours for the remainder of Oct. are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily. The park is open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily for the month of October and will transition to winter hours (9 a.m. to 6 p.m.) on Nov. 1.
“The Visitor Center offered several new exhibits this summer to include a new interactive photo table, panels highlighting careers and workers at the Soo Locks and new rugs that show the existing and future Soo Locks facility,” Chief Park Ranger Michelle Briggs said. “We listen to our visitors and create exhibits that reflect their interests.”
Canal Park at the Soo Locks Park welcomed over 280,000 visitors from May 1 to Oct. 1 with over 220,000 stopping in the Visitor Center to get boat schedules, ask questions and check out the exhibits inside. Throughout the season, over 1,600 kids and 700 adults received water safety goody bags after taking the Water Safety Pledge.
The Visitor Center will reopen May 1 for the 2024 season.
Briggs and other Detroit District Park Rangers have a great line up for upcoming Virtual Visitor Center programs held the first Thursday of each month from October to April. The next presentation on Nov. 2 will feature an examination of the Edmund Fitzgerald’s career and investigations into her tragic loss. Other planned topics include Split Rock Lighthouse on Lake Superior, a history of the Duluth-Superior Harbor and several other navigation related programs. For up to date Virtual Visitor Center programs, visit: https://www.facebook.com/USACEDetroitDistrict.
All Virtual Visitor Center programs can be found on the Detroit District YouTube page at: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqtbMFyAaYYO9TIAaaK2HTLr0Ph4A5FRF.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
