It has been a trail to get the ships up and down the Seaway these last few days. Heavy ice in front of the Seaway locks has hampered the entry of ship into the locks and also exiting the locks. Who is to blame? There have been some serious delays for ships and certainly a costly affair. Who will bare the blame or will there be any pointing of fingers? Is it only Mother Nature that will bare this one? Could the situation with the locks have been avoided?
This year December 2007 we have seen what many have been waiting for. Mother Nature gave us an early Cold and Snow winter. As many years in a row now we have seen fairly easy operation well into the end of December before we started to get any serious problem with Ice. This year we got it early. I wonder if it has been any estimate on the loss of revenue for owners and operators of the ships? Will there be claims against the Seaway? What will happen now?
Would a batter agitation in front of the locks have helped? We are using a ice buster system around the propellers of the ships during lay up and that seem to keep it almost free of ice. Would a similar system working on the same principals, in front of the lock gates have helped? It seems that the current system is not working very well. It might just be that we need some modernization of the seaway and a re-thinking and assessment of what has happened this winter.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Paschal Malone // Oct 8, 2008 at 3:10 pm
Can I ship materials / equipment for a project in Becancour, Quebec up the St Lawrence all through the winter monoths or is it iced over for part of the winter ??
2 Arild // Nov 23, 2008 at 11:57 am
Paschal
The St.LAwrence River is fully operational from the sea up to Montreal all winter. It is only the part from Montreal onward to Great Lakes that is closed dow due to ice. The reason for this is that the lock system can not operate with ice around the gates as it will be too much damage to them caused by the ice pressure as ships are passing. Also to open and close these doors will be impossible. To ship yor project cargo to Becancour in the winter would therefor be no problem for you.
Good luck with your project!
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