Saint Lawrence Seaway

The lock and channel system opened in 1959 that lifts ocean ships 2,300 kilometers inland to the Great Lakes.

Overview

Seven locks between Montreal and Lake Erie, with the Welland Canal alone climbing about 100 meters past Niagara, let oceangoing vessels reach lakes that hold a quarter of the world's fresh water. The season runs roughly late March to late December before ice closes the system. Cargo is dominated by grain moving out from Thunder Bay and steel-sector inputs, iron ore, limestone and coal, moving within the lakes, with seaway-wide tonnage around 35 to 40 million tonnes yearly. Critics call it underused and seasonally cursed, but it remains the only saltwater door into the industrial heartland of North America.