What the St. Lawrence Seaway strike means for the economy in Hamilton and Niagara
As the union representing striking St. Lawrence Seaway workers meets with management for mediation Friday, stakeholders in Hamilton and Niagara say they hope for a quick resolution at the bargaining table.
Since Oct. 22, about 360 workers have been on strike, shutting down the seaway, a marine shipping route between Lake Erie and Montreal that connects the Atlantic Ocean and Great Lakes. Ships have been left floating, waiting to pass through.
Welland mayor Frank Campion said he doesn’t blame striking workers or their bosses, but “both have to work very, very hard on reaching an agreement” given the stakes.
He said “when goods are not moving, it can hold up a whole bunch of different other types of industries and businesses.”
For example, he said, a housing developer told him they can’t do drainage work for homes they’re building until they can access the canal.
He said that although he’s not hearing about the strike from constituents yet, he knows businesses are worried. “If it lasts much longer, it’s going to have a direct severe impact on a lot of industries in Niagara but also in Canada and beyond.”
Striking workers are represented by Ontario Unifor locals 4211, 4212 and 4323, and Quebec locals 4319 and 4320. They work at 13 of the 15 locks along the trade route in maintenance, operations and supervisory roles (locks raise and lower watercraft between areas of different depths along waterways).
CBC contacted Unifor for comment but did not hear back before publication. On Tuesday, Unifor’s national president Lana Payne told reporters that workers want higher wages and for the company to address “a toxic workplace.”
Eight of those locks are in the Welland Canal, which connects Lake Ontario and Lake Erie, cutting through St. Catharines, Thorold, Welland and Port Colborne.
On Tuesday, the mayors of the four municipalities along the canal issued a statement saying the strike has significant economic impact and urged workers and management to keep negotiating. The statement says the seaway supports $12 billion in annual economic activity.
Thorold mayor Terry Ugulini told CBC Hamilton that Niagara Region is part of what he calls the “Welland Canal trade corridor” and “has a long history of being a vital component of the St. Lawrence Seaway system.”
In Thorold, he said, that corridor connects to different transportation routes and supports a growing number of businesses.
Ugulini said he has experience negotiating collective agreements from his time with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and understands “sometimes you need to take a break,” from the bargaining table, but he’s “confident” negotiators can reach a deal soon.
A person is fishing off a dock. Cargo ship are seen in the lake behind them.
Thirteen cargo vessels at anchor of Port Dalhousie waiting for the Welland Canal to re-open as St. Lawrence Seaway worker’s strike. (Patrick Morrell/CBC News)
Fall is the busiest time of year for shipping, Larissa Fenn, a spokesperson for the Hamilton-Oshawa Port Authority, told CBC in an email. “Steel manufacturers are beginning to stockpile raw materials for the winter, and Ontario farmers are harvesting and loading their grain onto vessels for export.”
According to Fenn, the Port of Hamilton “handles approximately 10 million tonnes out of the Seaway’s annual total of approximately 36 million tonnes.”
Fenn notes one-third of cargo that moves through the port is “related to the agricultural sector.” She said the Port of Hamilton is “the largest export gateway for Ontario-grown grain,” and that port terminals are not designed to store grain, or other food supplies.
“The Seaway closure means the system is increasingly backed up right to the farm,” Fenn wrote. “If there are no ships to load, the entire system is affected.”
The HOPA also handles “other critical commodities, connected to essential Ontario supply chains” including cement, rebar, gypsum and asphalt, road fuel, jet fuel, raw materials for steelmaking, finished steel and machinery, Fenn wrote.
Ken Albright, who advises the McMaster Institute for Transportation & Logistics, said shipping is “the best and most efficient way” to move such goods, and that according to his team’s recent research, Great Lakes shipping is a sector that has a lot of room to grow, “as long as we can get these kinds of things ironed out.” If not, he said, there’s the potential for reputational harm to the industry.
Workers have been on strike since Oct. 22, shutting down the seaway, a marine shipping route between Lake Erie and Montreal that connects the Atlantic Ocean and Great Lakes.
Albright notes the cost of living concerns workers have raised are far from unique. “Everybody in the transportation system is feeling this. It’s an area that’s particularly wage and price sensitive.”
The seaway is co-managed by American and Canadian authorities. The Canadian authority, St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation, is a non-profit headquartered in Cornwall, Ont., with offices in St. Catharines, Ont., and St. Lambert, Que.
SLSMC has written that it “works to find a fair and competitive labour agreement that balances wage demands and market realities.”
The Canadian Chamber of Commerce asked the federal government to intervene, but officials have declined, instead urging a solution at the bargaining table.
“We support the right to strike and we understand completely that people are feeling the pinch, including the people who work on the seaway. The cost of living is going up and times are tough and they’re looking for an increase and that makes sense,” Hugo Chesshire, the Greater Niagara Chamber of Commerce’s director of policy and government relations, said. “The issue for us as well is that there are a lot more livelihoods than just the 360 or so seaway workers at stake here that are also being affected.”
Greg Dunnett, president of the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce said in an email that the seaway supports more than 66,000 Canadian jobs. “Even a short work stoppage will have a significant impact on our local economy,” he wrote, impacting current production, and production in the first quarter of 2024.
CBC
View a video of vessels at anchor here: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/st-lawrence-seaway-strike-hamilton-niagara-1.7010164
Great Lakes Maritime Center to close for good today
PORT HURON, MI – According to information published in the Port Huron Times Herald, the Great Lakes Maritime Center will not reopen in 2024. The property is expected to be sold for development.
“Eighteen years. We’re celebrating actually,” said Mike DeLong, Acheson Ventures vice president of operations. “We’re just shifting because we couldn’t do it forever. … Our attendance is way down.”
The center was founded in the early 2000s as part of a waterfront redevelopment project that was the brainchild of Port Huron philanthropist Jim Acheson and his Acheson Ventures community foundation. Acheson died April 2, 2023. It offered a spectacular view of the passing vessel traffic on the St. Clair River and a number of artifacts were on display.
For many years it served as the real-world headquarters of boatnerd3.jasonbowlerdesign.com/ and was the domain of well-known boatwatcher and historian Frank Frisk. While in the planning stages, Boatnerd board members consulted with Jim Acheson and his team to offer suggestions for the center, and it for many years it hosted an annual book signing event for the Know Your Ships field guide.
The popular Farmer’s Market that was held adjacent to the Maritime Center will be relocated elsewhere for 2024.
Manitowoc-built ‘Big Blue’ Cranes Headed for Hawaii, Washington
MANITOWOC, WI — Those of you who remember “Big Blue,” the giant blue crane manufactured in the heart of the city in 2021, may want to get your comfortable shoes and cameras ready for more.
Two cranes, around 200 feet tall, are now in the final stages of construction at Broadwind Heavy Fabrications. Once completed, they will make a journey by barge to their new homes.
The cranes were designed and contracted by the Finnish company Konecranes, and components were made by Broadwind. They are part of a U.S. Navy contract and will be used to service submarine fleets.
These cranes are bigger than “Big Blue,” as the first crane became known on social media in 2021. They can lift 157 tons, compared to Big Blue’s 140-ton capacity. These machines weigh more than 2 million pounds.
“Big Blue” became a popular sensation, with Facebook accounts following its journey. And it was named the Coolest Thing Made in Wisconsin in a contest hosted by Wisconsin Manufacturing and Commerce that year.
Once completed, “Big Blue” traveled slowly by barge for a few weeks through the Great Lakes, the St. Lawrence Seaway and into the Atlantic Ocean.
The $55 million crane arrived at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, near the border of New Hampshire. The crane could lift twice the weight of other cranes in the Naval yard.
The two new cranes will also travel to Naval shipyards via barge, but this time to the Pacific Ocean.
One will go to Washington state and the other to Hawaii. They will travel through the Great Lakes and then along the East Coast on the Atlantic. They will pass through the Panama Canal, and then either up to Pacific Northwest or to the Hawaiian Islands, according to Brett Hartman, director of business development for Broadwind.
“This is a very unique product,” Hartman said. “We’re proud that something like this is built in Manitowoc, and proud to be part of the project.”
These cranes are used to service submarines, so in a way harken to the community’s long shipbuilding history. During World War II, the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company built 28 submarines for the U.S. Navy.
The cranes are expected to be tested and delivered some time in 2024.
Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter
