The St. Lawrence Seaway System Celebrates 60 Years by Sherry Hanes It’s the 60th anniversary year of the biggest engineering achievement in Canadian History…Sea what we’ve done! So! Sit down in your captains’ chair, and relax…because you’re going to find this very interesting! Our St. Lawrence Seaway System… AKA, our Marine Highway, ‘Hwy H20’, ‘The Water Stairs’… we share with you, the extreme importance of this engineering feat of the 20th century, that has literally transformed our nation, our economy, AND opened commerce to the world. Tim Heney, CEO, Port of Thunder Bay, “ It is a celebration of the 60th anniversary year of the seaway system this year. The seaway system is the biggest waterway in the world and the biggest engineering achievement in Canadian History built over 4 years.” Part I –‘HWY h20’-‘the water stairs’ Our ‘seaway locks system, or as some like to refer to it as, ‘Hwy H20’ or ‘The Water Stairs’, plays an extremely vital role in our economic growth and development, for country and commerce. From manufacturing, production, employment and demography, on a national and international scale, without the seaway system, many, if not all, production and manufacturing would be minimized due to lack of proper and or, expedient transportation of such goods. The Great Lakes/Seaway System, the “marine highway” stretches 3,700 km, (2299.073 milies) that extends from the Atlantic Ocean through the Great Lakes, which begins in Montreal Quebec and ends in Thunder Bay Ontario for Canadian side and Duluth Minnesota for the U.S. side and for which, over 200 million tons of cargo travel on the waterway, on an annual basis. Initiated in 1954 and completed in 1959, building the Seaway required: Some 22,000 workers, moving 210 million cubic yards of earth and rock and pouring over 6 million cubic yards of concrete. In 1998, years after the seaway locking system was developed, The Port of Thunder Bay, successor to, The Thunder Bay Port Authority, was creat-
ed by the Canada Marine Act. The 19 port authorities created by the act were 19 of the 20 most economically significant ports in Canada. (The St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation, the succes-
sor to the St. Lawrence Seaway Authority, was established in 1998 as a not-for-profit corporation by the Government of Canada, Seaway users and other key stakeholders. In accordance with provisions of the Canada Marine Act, the Corporation manages
and operates the Canadian assets of the St. Lawrence Seaway, which remain the property of the Government of Canada, under an agreement with Transport Canada.) Continued