Boatnerd Discussion Forum

In the last decade-plus I have never seen iron ore move up the Seaway to Nanticoke, only to Hamilton. If this was ever a trade route it has been gone for a long time.

One of the benefits widely touted for the construction of the Seaway was the concept that cargo could be carried both ways through the system, primarily grain eastbound and iron ore westbound. While Hamilton and Nanticoke are still receiving such shipments the absence of demand by US steelmakers has surely eroded one of the primary pillars of the Seaway system. I would assume that the reduction of these backhaul cargoes was one of the driving forces behind the contraction of both the number of fleets and number of units in the Canadian Great Lakes shipping industry. Of course, the reduction in demand in the US market while impacting Seaway movements has also translated into fewer US flagged ships also. I have noticed that the Great Lakes Fleet has been active in carrying iron ore from the Lake Superior region to Nanticoke this season, which in itself has been going on for some time (for at least some 30 years as I vividly recall traveling to Nanticoke in 1996 to take pictures of the Edwin H. Gott unloading there) . It seems like their Presque Isle has been pretty much dedicated to this route so far this season. However, this incursion of the thousand-foot vessels into that trade route would appear to have also reduced the demand for iron ore movement through the Seaway.

None of the US steel mills have ore bridges that can unload Canadian straight-deckers with iron ore from the St. Lawrence river ports. And the Canadian self-unloaders with iron ore from the St. Lawrence seem to mostly be unloading in either Hamilton or Nanticoke. The trade is nothing like it used to be.

This trade is pretty much completely gone now. The lone remnant would be CSL ships bringing titanium ore from Sorel to Ashtabula which they still do a few times a year. Until fairly recently, Algoma ships would load imported Bauxite ore from South America in Quebec City and deliver to Burns and Indiana Harbor but this has dried up in the last decade.

How active is the Canadian fleet in the movement of backhauls of iron ore through the Seaway to US ports? I recall several of those fleets bringing iron ore back into the lakes on return voyages after taking grain down the Seaway. Among the ports where it was once common to see Canadian vessels unloading ore included Conneaut, Cleveland, Detroit, and Indiana Harbor.