“The project to modernize Piers 16 and 17 will make a significant contribution to the resilience of the Canadian supply chain for these primary sectors of activity,” said Port of Trois-Rivières president and CEO Gaétan Boivin in a news release.

The federal government will contribute up to $87.1 million to the project. Total investment in the project is $312 million, the Port of Trois-Rivières a separate statement.

The port plans to refurbish Pier 17 and build a new Pier 16. This will include new wharves and terminals and redevelopment of traffic lanes. Grain buyer G3 Canada and aluminum firm Alcoa will install new loading and unloading equipment, the port said.

The changes will reduce port congestion and improve the flow of cargo traffic, the government said.

Trois-Rivières sits between Montreal and Quebec City on the St. Lawrence River and handles approximately 250 ships and 3.3 million tonnes of grain, aluminum, steel, and other products like wind towers and cacao beans, the port’s website said.

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An estimated 10.5 million tonnes of grain moved through the shipping corridor during the season, with wheat accounting for 6.5 million tonnes of the total. Wheat movement was up by 28 per cent compared to 2022, and Canadian wheat accounted for just over 90 per cent of the wheat shipments.

Canola shipments were up by 6.5 per cent on the year at 666,464 tonnes.

However, soybean shipments fell by 35.4 per cent at 1.5 million tonnes, while corn movement dipped by 7.0 per cent at 1.4 million.

Total cargo movement, including mining and processed products along with other miscellaneous cargo hit 37.6 million tonnes, which was up by 3.4 per cent on the year. Notable changes included a 14.0 per cent increase in coal at 2.0 million tonnes and a 1.9 per cent increase in iron ore to 6.3 million tonnes.

The 2023 St. Lawrence Seaway shipping season was one of the longest on record, running from March 22 through January 7.

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Of the total, grain movement was up by five per cent on the year, hitting 10.4 million tonnes, with Canadian grain up by more than 11 per cent.

“Again in 2023, the St. Lawrence Seaway demonstrated its resilience and reliability, as well as emphasizing its role as an essential component of the Green Shipping Corridor,” said Terence Bowles, President and CEO of the SLSMC.

“Marine commerce on the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway plays a key role in supporting 246,000 jobs and US$36 billion in economic development activities across North America,” added Adam Tindall-Schlicht, GLS Administrator.

Dry bulk movement of agricultural supplies and construction materials topped 12 million tonnes, which was up by five per cent on the year. Liquid bulk traffic was up by 3.4 per cent at 3.6 million tonnes.

After the longest scheduled shipping season in history, the Montreal/Lake Ontario section of the seaway closed for the season on Jan. 5 with the Welland Canal closing on Jan. 7. Annual winter maintenance and infrastructure renewal programs are currently underway.

Looking ahead to 2024, the SLMC and GLS will focus on further developing the Green Shipping Corridor to leverage the environmental and economic benefits of marine shipping to regional and global communities.

— Phil Franz-Warkentin is an associate editor/analyst with MarketsFarm in Winnipeg.

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Unifor, which represents about 360 Seaway workers across five locals in the two provinces, announced Thursday its members had voted to ratify a three-year agreement retroactive to April 1.

The maintenance, operations and clerical group of employees voted 85 per cent in favour, and the supervisory group 87 per cent in favour, of the agreement reached Oct. 29, Unifor said in a release.

The agreement provides for annual wage increases of five, four and four per cent plus a $2,000 signing bonus, the union said.

The successful ratification vote follows a strike that ran Oct. 22-30 and halted grain shipments and all other freight traffic on the waterway.

The St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp., the not-for-profit organization in charge of Canadian seaway operations, said seaway staff and “marine industry partners” had worked since navigation restarted on the morning of Oct. 30 to clear a backlog of waiting vessels and the re-opening plan was “fully implemented” by Nov. 1.

The SLSMC said Thursday it would “continue to take measures to maximize the movement of vessels carrying essential cargo along the Seaway” in coming weeks, leading up to the end of the navigation season.

Expected closing dates for the 2023 season haven’t yet been announced. For its 2022 season, the Seaway closed on Jan. 1, 2023 on its Montreal-Lake Ontario section and Jan. 9, 2023 on the Welland Canal; both sections reopened for the 2023 season on March 22. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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The St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation (SLSMC) and Unifor, the union representing the workers, announced the new agreement separately Sunday evening. Unionized workers had been on strike since just after midnight the previous Sunday.

SLSMC said Sunday it would start its “recovery program” immediately and would start passing ships “progressively” Monday as employees were due to return to work starting at 7 a.m. ET.

Details of the proposed agreement are expected to be released once the deal passes a ratification vote. SLSMC CEO Terence Bowles said the agreement is “fair for workers and secures a strong and stable future for the Seaway.”

“For the first time in 55 years seaway workers took the very hard decision to go on strike. They did so to fight for a more respectful workplace and for an agreement that reflects today’s economic times,” Unifor national president Lana Payne said in the union’s release.

“They have shown that the best deal is reached at the bargaining table, and I congratulate the committee on their outstanding work on behalf of their members.”

Federal Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan, in a post to social media platform X on Sunday evening, thanked the SLSMC, union and federal mediators “for your commitment to the negotiating table.”

SLSMC had sought a ruling from the Canada Industrial Relations Board as to whether Seaway workers would be obligated to continue to serve bulk grain vessels, but a CIRB ruling hadn’t yet been released as of Monday morning.

The Canada Labour Code requires longshore workers to serve bulk grain ships in the event of a strike or lockout, such as during the B.C. ports strike earlier this year.

After the Seaway strike began the previous Sunday, groups such as Grain Farmers of Ontario had called on the federal government to ensure continued grain movement.

“This is a crucial time for the grain harvest in Ontario and the closure of the St. Lawrence Seaway could mean that, in a matter of days, many farmers will have nowhere to deliver grain to and we risk the grain staying on the field too long to be viable,” GFO chair Brendan Byrne had said in a release Oct. 23.

“We need governments at every level to do whatever they can to ensure the grain keeps moving. Farmers need it. Our food system needs it. Our economy needs it.”

GFO had also warned that a prolonged strike could back up grain in Western Canada, if port terminals at Thunder Bay were unable to move grain into the Seaway system before freeze-up.

“This strike served as an important reminder of the risks inherent in our export transport system and how quickly a chain reaction can be set off that will have dire consequences,” Byrne said in a separate GFO release Monday, after the tentative deal was reached.

“We urge all parties to continue working together to ensure closures of the Seaway do not happen in the future.”

Fertilizer Canada, which represents Canadian fertilizer producers and sellers, had said in a separate release Saturday that the Seaway “is less than 60 days away from closing for winter, which limits the time available to work through the backlog caused by the strike that compounds each day.”

Exports of Canadian potash were “heavily impacted” by delays from the longshore workers’ strike at the West Coast in July and had been relying on eastern ports, especially Thunder Bay, to “support recovery,” Fertilizer Canada said.

The Seaway also handles imports of fertilizer for farmers in Eastern Canada, who “have a short window to apply fertilizer and any disruption to the supply chain can threaten getting fertilizer to farmers in time and jeopardize food security,” the organization said. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Unifor workers in both Ontario and Quebec walked off the job Sunday following a breakdown in talks between the union and the system operator, St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp (SLSMC).

Negotiations with a federal mediator are slated to resume on Friday, but Devitt said there is little time to spare because the longer the seaway is closed, the bigger impact the strike will have.

“What we’re doing is calling on government and the parties involved to get this strike over as soon as possible.”

Devitt said storage capacity in southwestern Ontario, which is home to the province’s grain and soybean production, is limited because of the close proximity to port access. The strike is occurring at a particularity critical point in the harvest, he added.

“We’re in the last third of soybean harvest, and corn is just getting started in Ontario. It’s been a late start for the growing season and wet weather these last few weeks. We’ve got a huge amount of corn and soybeans that are either in the field or need to get to market,” he said.

“We rely on boats moving out the St. Lawrence around the world at harvest in Ontario.”

Port terminals in southwestern Ontario are filling up and deliveries are starting to be restricted.

Storage capacity is currently being used for soybeans, which means corn can’t be harvested and stored, Devitt said.

“If we don’t free up that room in the countryside from beans, we’re not going to have room for corn,” he said.

The strike’s impacts could reach beyond southwestern Ontario if it continues. The seaway usually closes during freeze-up in January, and the backlog could hit western grain shipments coming out of Thunder Bay if a resolution isn’t found before the New Year, he added.

The Canada Labour Code requires workers to continue serving bulk grain vessels at ports in the event of a strike or lockout, as was the case during the longshore workers’ strike at West Coast ports this summer.

The SLSMC has sought a ruling from the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) on whether that Labour Code rule applies to seaway workers in this case.

SLSMC vice-president Jean Aubry-Morin said via email Tuesday that no deadline has yet been announced for the CIRB to rule on the matter.

— Alex McCuaig reports for the Western Producer from Medicine Hat, Alta. Includes files from Dave Bedard of AGCanada.com.

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Unifor, which represents about 360 Seaway workers across five locals in Ontario and Quebec, had served Seaway management with 72 hours’ strike notice on Wednesday.

In a release dated Sunday, it said negotiations “failed to reach a satisfactory agreement” by its deadline just before midnight.

The St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp. (SLSMC) said in a separate release dated Sunday that an “orderly shutdown” of the waterway system took place during the 72-hour period, allowing for vessels to clear the Seaway.

No vessels are waiting to exit the system, SLSMC said, but added there are “over 100 vessels outside the system, which are impacted by the situation.”

SLSMC said it’s also waiting now for a response to its Canada Industrial Relations Board application, seeking a ruling under the Canada Labour Code for Unifor to provide employees during a strike so vessels “engaged in the movement of grain” can continue to move through the system.

The Labour Code provisions relating to grain handling at port terminals had allowed for bulk grain traffic to continue during the British Columbia longshore workers’ strike this summer.

The Seaway system, SLSMC said, “will remain shut down until an agreement can be reached, whether it be temporary or tentative, as we work diligently to minimize disruption for all stakeholders.”

“We negotiated in good faith right up to the last moment, but we cannot allow workers’ rights to be compromised,” Unifor’s Quebec director Daniel Cloutier said in Sunday’s release. “We remain open to discussion and hope that the employer will reconsider its position for the good of all.”

SLSMC had said in a separate release Saturday that the union “continues to demand wage increases patterned after the current automotive negotiations” between automakers and unions in that sector.

However, the company said, the Seaway’s situation is “vastly different” as automotive workers “had fallen behind inflation following give-backs in past years.”

Seaway workers by comparison “today find themselves almost 10 per cent ahead of inflation,” the company said.

“This impasse is extremely unfortunate but our members remain committed to getting a fair agreement,” Unifor national president Lana Payne said in the union’s release Sunday. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Unifor, the union representing over 360 seaway workers across five union locals in Ontario and Quebec, on Wednesday served the corporation with 72 hours’ strike notice.

The SLSMC said Friday an application is being made to the Canada Industrial Relations Board, seeking an order to confirm how section 87.7(3) of the Canada Labour Code — relating to movement of grain during a strike or lockout — will apply in this case.

Under that section, either a union or an employer can apply to the CIRB to determine any question of how section 87.7(1) applies and “make any order it considers appropriate to ensure compliance with that subsection.”

Section 87.7(1) of the Code requires longshore or other workers to “continue to provide the services they normally provide to ensure the tie-up, let-go and loading of grain vessels at licensed terminal and transfer elevators, and the movement of the grain vessels in and out of a port.”

That section of the Code kept bulk grain vessels moving during a month-long B.C. longshore workers’ strike this summer. However, traffic in containerized pulse crops and other agricultural goods and commodities does not have such an exemption under the Code.

In all, as of Friday, there are more than 80 vessels, 40 of which are ocean-going, still in the Seaway, the SLSMC said.

The corporation said it “will continue negotiating in an effort to reach a new agreement without disruption of service” before Sunday.

Unifor said in a separate release Friday it’s “willing to continue negotiations with (SLSMC) after the scheduled bargaining dates” to try to reach an agreement ahead of the strike deadline of 11:59 p.m. Saturday.

Talks “will continue until the very last minute in an attempt to reach a deal,” the union said, but added that “at this time the union and employer remain 1,000 nautical miles apart on wages.”

SLSMC said it hopes talks can lead to a solution “adapted to the Seaway’s reality as a not-for-profit corporation.”

However, it added, progress “continues to be slow as the high union wage demands could potentially lead to increasing tolls to a level that would make the waterway less competitive and eventually increase the price for the goods that transit through it.”

“It’s really up to the employer at this point to seal this deal and avoid any transit disruption,” Unifor Quebec director Daniel Cloutier said in the union’s release. “These are jobs that require intense training, a high level of understanding of the health and safety risks, and that carry enormous responsibility for the well-being of seafarers and their cargo.”

SLSMC added Friday that the “necessary steps for an orderly shutdown are now underway, including providing cut-off times for vessels to safely clear the Seaway system” before a work stoppage begins. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Unifor members represented by Locals 4211, 4212 and 4323 in Ontario and Locals 4319 and 4320 in Quebec “have all delivered strong strike mandates,” the union said in a release Wednesday.

Locals 4211 and 4319, which represent the seaway’s supervisory and engineering group of workers, had already voted Aug. 1 to reject a tentative deal, Unifor said.

The maintenance, operations and administrative unit, represented by Locals 4212, 4323 and 4320, announced Oct. 12 its members had voted 99 per cent in favour of strike action if a deal isn’t reached by a deadline of Saturday (Oct. 21).

“Employers have seen that workers will absolutely use their right to strike when they feel it’s necessary, and our members in all units at the Seaway have had enough,” Lana Payne, Unifor’s national president, said in a release Wednesday.

“It’s time to come to the table with a serious wage offer or the employer can watch what happens when workers stand together and demand their fair share.”

“This employer has shown no willingness to address the workers’ concerns in the workplace or approach them with a respectful wage offer,” Unifor Quebec director Daniel Cloutier said in the same release.

Unifor said such a strike would “effectively shut down transit through the Seaway.”

SLSMC concurred in a separate release Wednesday, saying that “should the unionized workers proceed with strike action, the St. Lawrence Seaway will be closed to all traffic.”

The not-for-profit corporation, which handles movement of marine traffic through Canadian Seaway facilities — that is, 13 of the waterway’s 15 locks between Montreal and Lake Erie — said it has started to implement its plans for an “orderly and safe shutdown of the system” within the 72-hour notice period.

Meanwhile, SLSMC said it “remains committed to obtaining a fair settlement, and will continue to bargain in good faith with the assistance of a federally-appointed mediator.”

“Cargo movements through the Seaway are an important part of the North American economy
and supply chain,” the corporation said Wednesday.

“In particular, this labour action would impact grain movements during a period when the world is in dire need of this essential commodity, even as supply has been affected by the situation in Ukraine and the greater frequency of extreme weather events being experienced around the world.”

A separate U.S. government corporation, the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corp. (GLS), operates seaway facilities within U.S. territory, including two locks at Massena, N.Y., about 120 km southeast of Ottawa. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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The 2020 navigation season officially began Thursday with the arrival of the tug Sharon M1 and barge Huron Spirit.

The vessel combination came abeam of the Mission Pier entrance at 9:30 p.m. local time, port officials said in a news release.

As the first vessel to arrive in Thunder Bay after the spring opening of the Soo Locks, it received the port’s annual ‘Top Hat’ honour.

Owned and operated by Burlington, Ont.-based McKeil Marine, the tug-barge discharged about 5,000 tonnes of calcium chloride brine solution at Pollard Highway Products on the Kaministiquia River.

Thunder Bay’s Top Hat honour is usually captured by a bulk vessel taking on its first grain shipment of the season. That was nearly the case again; the bulker Algoma Sault arrived in port for grain just hours after the Sharon M1/Huron Spirit.

Another bulker that wintered in Thunder Bay, CSL Welland, has also departed the port with grain.

‘Navigational conditions’

The St. Lawrence Seaway also began its navigation season last week, two days earlier than in 2019, as the Welland Canal portion of the waterway opened Tuesday (March 24), with the transit of the NACC Argonaut.

The seaway’s Montreal/Lake Ontario section is due to open Wednesday (April 1) in a “hybrid approach” which the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp. said will allow the waterway’s operators to move “record volumes” of water out of Lake Ontario, “to provide relief to lakeshore communities battered by high water levels.”

The re-opening of Thunder Bay provides another option for exporting grain from Western Canada. From the perspective of grain growers at the eastern end of the Prairies, railway car cycle times are faster because the Lakehead port is much closer than Vancouver or Prince Rupert.

Thunder Bay shipped nine million tonnes of cargo in 2019, with grain accounting for nearly 8.3 million tonnes of that total.

Grain stocks in Thunder Bay, as of March 22, came in at 693,700 tonnes, according to Canadian Grain Commission data.

As for the St. Lawrence, about 38 million tonnes of commodities and goods travelled on the seaway during its 2019 season, well down from the 10-year high of 40.9 million tonnes reported in 2018.

International trade tensions, adverse weather affecting Prairie grain harvests, and “difficult navigational conditions” due to high water flows on the St. Lawrence River itself all went to limit total cargo volumes on the waterway in 2019, the SLSMC said.

— Reporting for Glacier FarmMedia by Allan Dawson, MarketsFarm and GFM Network staff.

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