b'6American Journal of Transportation ajot.com Upbeat outlook for 2021ST. LAWRENCE SEAWAY& Seaway season GREAT LAKES PORTS 2021Great Lakes prospects looking great for 2021 seasonBy Leo Ryan, AJOTThe 2021 season on the St. Law- anincreaseof10%,withshipments renceSeaway/GreatLakesmaritimefrom Canadian ports rising by 112% corridor is barely two months old, butwhereastheydeclinedmoderately the overall outlook has been encour- from U.S. ports.agingforportsandshippinglinesP ortm iLWaukeesi imPressiveclosely involved in the waterway link-ing the Atlantic Ocean to the indus- P erFormanCeD uringCoviD-19trial heartland of North America. AmongU.S.GreatLakesports, Indeed,whencommercialnavi- PortMilwaukeehadanoteworthy gation opened in late March, variousperformance in 2020, especially over-stakeholderswerecautiouslyopti- coming pandemic and flooding chal-mistic over bouncing back from whatlenges.Itfinishedtheyearwithits turned out to be relatively small pan- highestannualcargovolumeinthe demic-impacted decline in 2020. past seven years. Overall tonnage for Thanks to a big increase in grainthemunicipalportandtheadjacent shipments, total cargo had dropped byprivatedocksinMilwaukeeHarbor under2%to38millionmetrictonsincreased by more than 5% to 2.8 mil-last year. And this year, a target of 40lion metric tonsled by agriculturalThe CSL Groups Baie St. Paul was the first vessel passing through the St. Lambert Lock at the million tons looks reachable, industry(UPBEATcontinued on page 7) start of the 63rd Seaway season.(Photo by Alexanne Brisson)analysts consider, as a recovery gains traction in key regions of the world economy,includingNorthAmerica, Europe and Asia.Indeed, on the heels of last years bumperharvests,grainshipments were robust early in the season.So was the iron ore trade through U.S. GreatLakesportsshowingstrength whilewindfarmcomponentship-ments via the Seaway were expected to remain substantial.Moving goods by water through theSeawayensurestradeisflow-ingfreelybetweentheU.S.and Canadawhilealsoreducingemis-sions, said U.S. Secretary of Transpor-tation Pete Buttigieg, who participated in the virtual opening ceremony at the St. Lambert Lock near Montreal.After 62 years of operation, the binationalSeawaySystemremainsa model of international cooperation and partnershipandshowcaseshowwe can work together to address the chal-lenges of climate change, he added.The Seaways consistently high level of system availability contributes to a robust, competitive Great Lakes St.LawrenceSeawaytransporta-tion route, declared Terence Bowles, President and Chief Executive Officer oftheSt.LawrenceSeawayMan-agementCorporation.Weprovide convenientaccesstoanimpressive number of industries, ports, highway and rail networks.Commercialnavigationonthe GreatLakesSt.LawrenceSeaway System is an economic foundation of theU.S.andCanadianeconomies, underlinedCraigH.Middlebrook, DeputyAdministratoroftheU.S. GreatLakesSt.LawrenceSeaway Development Corporation.According to the Cleveland-based LakeCarriersAssociation,which represents the U.S.-flag Great Lakes fleet, iron ore shipments on the GreatHARNESS THE GLOBAL POWER OF A GREAT LAKES PORT.Lakes totaled 5.6 million tons in April, an increase of over 8% from last year. Regional, national and international logisticians count on Port Milwaukee for a turnkey approach Year-to-date,theironoretradeto solve their transportation and supply chain needs. Strategically located in the industrial center stood at 9.5 million tons, an increaseof the U.S., Port Milwaukee provides premier access to domestic and world markets.of15%comparedtothesamepoint last year. This was also 10% above theVISIT PORTMILWAUKEE.COM . PORT @ MILWAUKEE.GOVfive-year average for four months of the year. Ports posting big gains were Duluth(MN),Superior(WI),Two Harbours (MN) and Presque Isle (MI).Foritspart,thelimestonetrade year-to-date stood at 2.5 million ton,'