Great Lakes Archives

A ship is docked for unloading at G3’s St. Lawrence River terminal at Trois-Rivieres, Que. (G3.ca)

St. Lawrence Seaway sees increased tonnage in 2023

The seaway saw the longest scheduled shipping season in history

By GFM Network News February 1, 2024

Cargo movement through the St. Lawrence Seaway was up by more than 3.4 per cent in 2023 compared to the previous year, with nearly 38 million tonnes of cargo moved through the binational system, according to a joint report from the Canadian St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation (SLMC) and the United States Great Lakes St. Lawrence Development Corporation (GLS).

General

Feds pledge up to $26.3 million for expansion at Port Windsor

Project expected to significantly increase ADM's capacity at the Great Lakes port

By Geralyn Wichers, GFM Network News January 12, 2024

A project to expand the Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) Company's Port Windsor terminal got a federal cash boost yesterday.

File photo of locks on the Welland Canal at Allanburg, Ont. (Jimfeng/iStock/Getty Images)

Crops, Markets

Seaway workers serve strike notice

Waterway would be 'closed to all traffic' in event of strike

By Dave Bedard, GFM Network News October 19, 2023

Five Unifor locals representing 361 workers with the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp. (SLSMC) have served their 72 hours’ notice of a strike that could shut the waterway to grain and all other traffic just after midnight Sunday at the earliest. Unifor members represented by Locals 4211, 4212 and 4323 in Ontario and Locals 4319 […] Read more

File photo of a storm cloud from the southwestern end of Lake Winnipeg at Matlock, Man. (IanChrisGraham/iStock/Getty Images Plus)

Crops, Reuters, Weather

More than half of world’s large lakes drying up, study finds

Gains in Great Lakes, Lake Winnipeg come from runoff, rainfall

By GFM Network News May 18, 2023

London | Reuters — More than half of the world’s large lakes and reservoirs have shrunk since the early 1990s, chiefly because of climate change, intensifying concerns about water for agriculture, hydropower and human consumption, a study published on Thursday found. A team of international researchers reported that some of the world’s most important freshwater […] Read more

Crops

Lake Erie grain terminal sold to main tenant

Ceres sells export facility to London Ag Commodities

By Dave Bedard February 22, 2023

The former Robin Hood flour mill turned grain export terminal on the Ontario side of Lake Erie is under new ownership by its main user. Minneapolis-based Ceres Global Ag announced Wednesday it has sold the well-known terminal at Port Colborne, Ont., about 30 km west of Buffalo, N.Y., to London Agricultural Commodities (LAC) for US$4 […] Read more

Snow and ice cover in North America as of Nov. 22, 2020. (NOAA.gov)

Crops, Livestock, Weather

Most of Prairies already covered in snow

By MarketsFarm Team, GFM Network News November 23, 2020

MarketsFarm — Most of the Canadian Prairies were already blanked in snow by late November, with the deepest snowpack in Alberta and Saskatchewan, according to data compiled by Environment Canada and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Aside from the Rocky Mountains and some areas around the Great Lakes, the U.S. was largely […] Read more

Crops, Weather

Ice-free Great Lakes mean sunny outlook for seaway

By GFM Network News February 16, 2016

CNS Canada — A lack of ice on the Great Lakes means Canada’s St. Lawrence Seaway will start shipping grain earlier than last year. Last year the seaway’s opening was delayed until the beginning of April, due to the amount of ice in the system, according to Bruce Hodgson, director of market development for St. […] Read more

The major Great Lakes ports serving farmers are Hamilton, Windsor, Sarnia, Goderich, Owen Sound, Johnstown, Port Colborne and Oshawa.

Crops, Features

Shipping grain through the Seaway

Investments and changing regulations are key to the future of the St. Lawrence Seaway

By Rachel Telford November 20, 2015

Since 1679, commercial ships have plied the waters of the St. Lawrence moving goods from the Great Lakes to the Atlantic. Today, 165 million metric tonnes (MT) of cargo is shipped through these waterways within North America every year. “The farming community is extremely important to our business and to the Great Lakes St. Lawrence […] Read more

The CWB Marquis — one of two new laker vessels the former Canadian Wheat Board ordered in 2011 — arrived at St. Lambert on April 2 for the reopening of the St. Lawrence Seaway. The federal Transportation Safety Board reported the Marquis ran aground the next day at Beauharnois, Que., about 45 km southwest of St. Lambert, but refloated later that evening and continued en route to Hamilton. (CWB.ca)

Crops, Machinery, Markets, Weather

CWB’s new laker boat opens St. Lawrence Seaway

By Grainews Staff, GFM Network News April 2, 2015

The first of CWB’s new laker vessels marked the official opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway for 2015 on Thursday, passing through the South Shore Canal’s St. Lambert Lock near Montreal. The seaway navigation season’s official opening had previously been set for March 27, but officials opted in early March to put off the opening […] Read more

Crops, Weather

Return to ‘normal’ ice conditions expected for Great Lakes

By GFM Network News December 3, 2014

CNS Canada — After record ice levels kept shipping lanes on the Great Lakes closed longer than normal during the 2013-14 winter, a return to more normal ice conditions is in the forecasts for 2014-15, according to data compiled by the North American Ice Service and released Wednesday. “Right now, we’re looking at a near-normal […] Read more

Alberta crop conditions improve: report

U.S. grains: Corn sets contract lows on expectations for big US crop

U.S. livestock: Cattle strength continues

GFM Network News