Named after the company president, the Mark W. Barker is scheduled to enter commercial service during the 2022 navigation season.
The 2021 season on the St. Lawrence Seaway/Great Lakes maritime corridor is barely two months old, but the overall outlook has been encouraging for ports and shipping lines closely involved in the waterway linking the Atlantic Ocean to the industrial heartland of North America.
Wind power keying project cargo moves ports on the US Great Lakes.
Operations began gradually returning to normal Saturday at the Port of Montreal after the Canadian federal government rushed through legislation late Friday forcing some 1,150 striking dockers back to work.
More than 1,100 Montreal dockers today began an unlimited strike that shut down almost all operations at Canada’s second largest port engulfed in one of the longest labour conflicts in its history.
Despite the unprecedented global challenges of COVID-19, the leading ports on Canada’s West Coast are still enjoying robust trade with Asia. Vancouver and Prince Rupert even broke cargo records in 2020, with container trends continuing to show strength in 2021. And the Port of Nanaimo, in partnership with DP World, is expanding a major regional, shortsea project with a container-on-barge service.
In a development worth watching, newly created Doornekamp Lines has announced the launching in May of a bi-weekly Canadian-flag container service via the St. Lawrence Seaway between Halifax and Picton, a small growing port on Lake Ontario.
While the Port of Montreal has successfully navigated through the demanding regulatory process paving the way to begin construction this year of a new container terminal, the same cannot be said for the Port of Quebec in its ambitious goal to become a second container port on the St. Lawrence River.
Desgagnés Group carries out container shipment to Great Lakes
The St. Lawrence Seaway, which links North America’s industrial heartland to the Atlantic Ocean, has not failed to be impacted by the ongoing global pandemic. Current Seaway cargo flows through Canadian and U.S. Great Lakes ports served by the waterway’s locks are experiencing a downward pattern in the high single digits, but sharp gains in grain shipments and a solid trend in wind-related project cargo are demonstrating the system’s resiliency and vital trade role.
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