St. Lawrence Seaway
Coordinates: 43 ° 41 ′ 0 ″ N , 77 ° 57 ′ 0 ″ W.
The Saint Lawrence Seaway ( French Voie maritime du Saint-Laurent , English Saint Lawrence Seaway ) is a to 1959 in 1951 between Lake Superior and Montreal developed waterway , which is equipped with numerous canals and locks and the depth of it Ocean- going vessels up to the Seawaymax class are allowed to sail from the Atlantic Ocean, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence , up to 3700 kilometers into the interior of North America . It is located in the area of Canada and the United States .
Since opening, the St. Lawrence Seaway has been at least 8.23 meters deep. By 1903, the existing canals had already been brought to a depth of 4.32 meters.
General
The St. Lawrence River reaches a length of 1223 kilometers. Its origin lies at the eastern end of Lake Ontario, the smallest of the Great Lakes. The entire river system, which also includes the Great Lakes (including the source of the Saint Louis River in Minnesota) is 3,219 kilometers long, the constructed seaway itself is only 293 kilometers. It is repeatedly interrupted by the Great Lakes. It leads through Lake Superior , Lake Huron , Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, as well as hundreds of other small neighboring lakes such as the Iroquois Reservoir . The St. Lawrence River is one of the busiest inland waterways in the world, although it can only be navigated from April to December due to the thick layers of ice. In total, it overcomes a difference in altitude of 184 meters. The Niagara Falls are bypassed with a staircase made up of eight locks , which with a length of 42 kilometers overcome almost 100 meters. This canal is called Welland Canal . It is used by more than 1,700 ships every year.
background
Bulk freight
Bulky freight transport in North America at the end of the 19th century required new, inexpensive transportation routes that could be provided by the new transcontinental railroad lines. At the same time, the expansion of the sea routes began. There were canals between the great lakes before. However, these were not deep enough for the new bulk freight traffic, so that the USA and Canada wanted to open a new sea route through expansion work that should keep up with the railways.
Competing transport routes
The providers of transport services via alternative routes feared economic losses. The first mentioned losses in the following resulted from a market economy distortion by the state, the others from the new legitimate competition.
The US private eastern railroad companies criticized the use of public funds to build the St. Lawrence Seaway. This unequal treatment would restrict free competition. However, they rejected state financial support for the railways because they were against nationalization. Hydroelectric power stations were also to be built on the St. Lorenz Sea Route, so that the railway companies foresaw the discontinuation of massive coal transports to the north-eastern thermal power stations. The Atlantic seaports were also afraid of the St. Lawrence Seaway. They feared a collapse in overseas traffic. In fact, the St. Lorenz Sea Route was later mainly used for inland traffic. In addition, the southern ports on the Gulf of Mexico had to fear transport losses. Instead of the Mississippi River to the southern ports, grain exports from the Midwest were to be directed into the world via the new St. Lawrence Seaway. After the completion of the sea route, however, hardly any loss of overseas traffic was noticed at these ports.
Construction and facts
With the Saint Lawrence Seaway Authority Act 1951 in Washington Canada the permission for the construction of the sea route was given, since the USA had not yet decided to participate in the construction. In 1954 the “St. Lawerence Seaway Development Corporation ”so that the joint construction could begin in the same year. In 1959 the St. Lawrence Seaway was completed. The waterway was partly led over the area of existing settlements. The settlements have been partially demolished and can be viewed in the Upper Canada Village .
An average of 22,000 people were involved in the construction of the St. Lawrence Seaway. The entire structure cost a total of around 470 million US dollars. Of this sum, Canada took over US $ 336 million, rounded down. The United States provided the remainder, rounded up to $ 134 million. The structure included the construction of canals , locks , dams , bridges and power plants. Construction supervision was carried out by the Saint Lawrence Seaway Authority in Canada and by the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation in the USA .
economy
Only 10 percent of seagoing vessels can navigate the sea route because of the size restrictions . Numerous ports benefited from the expansion of the sea route, as they were equipped with new facilities and traffic connections. In the US, these include Chicago , Gary , Detroit and Duluth . On the Canadian side, it's Toronto , Hamilton and Thunder Bay . Montreal has developed into one of the most important container ports thanks to the St. Lawrence Seaway. Today more than 52 percent of the country's container freight is handled there. Mainly agricultural products, but iron ore and finished products are also transported by sea. In total, the transported freight of commercial goods in 2004 amounted to 43 million tons.
So-called lakers , ships that can load over 25,000 t and can only operate above the Welland Canal , operate within the Great Lakes .
The ports
Most of the ports on the Saint Lawrence Seaway and Great Lakes are on the US side. Especially in the immediate time after the expansion to the St. Lorenz Sea Route, the ports were the bottleneck of the rapidly increasing shipping traffic. The port operators wanted to observe the development first before investing. Therefore, the regional authorities felt compelled to finance the port expansion themselves. The new ports required greater water depth, new handling facilities and storage facilities.
Usability in winter
The sea route is now navigable from the end of March to the end of December. 25 of these days are only possible through the use of new techniques that keep the canals and locks free of ice. Plans to use ice breakers and heated locks to keep the sea route usable all year round were not implemented. To date, the sea route from the sea is only navigable as far as Montreal thanks to icebreakers .
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Automatic identification system
The world's first automatic identification system ( AIS ) was used on the St. Lawrence Seaway in 2003 . This radio system is used to exchange ship information such as navigation data and is intended to enable the ships to be steered safely.
Web links
- Great Lakes St Lawrence Seaway system web site ( English )
- Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway Study ( english )