Reading: Navigating the St. Lawrence: Challenging Waters, Rich History and Bright Future | Clear Seas
This web log explores the physical characteristics of the St. Lawrence and the main challenges they pose to the commercial vessels using the watercourse. It besides gives an overview of the safety measures in place and the diverse initiatives aimed at enhancing the productiveness and sustainability of marine shipping on this major route .
The St. Lawrence Seaway: A Short History
commercial marine shipping on the St. Lawrence corridor has a long history. Indigneous people paddled the waters they called Kaniatarowanenneh, or the “ adult waterway ”, more than 9,000 years ago using it as a trade and exile path. Learn more about the major character Mohawks have played in the history of the St. Lawrence and their engagement in the security and preservation of ecosystems along the St. Lawrence here. The european explorers who settled New France, Upper and Lower Canada used the St. Lawrence as an important exile link. As North America grew and prospered, major exploitation of the St. Lawrence River was required to allow commercial vessels to sail between Montreal and the Great Lakes. During the 1930s and 1950s, development activity included dredging2, digging channels, and the construction of locks. In the 1950s, the decision was taken by Canada and the United States to jointly build the St. Lawrence Seaway. When it opened in 1959, it was considered one of the great engineer feats and examples of international co-operation of the twentieth hundred. Covering a distance of 306 km, it links Montreal with Port Colborne, Ont., on Lake Erie and includes 15 locks – seven of which are located in the St. Lawrence ( five on the canadian side and two on the american side ) – allowing ships to transit through it despite an elevation gain of 168 metres. From there, it reaches Lake Superior and Thunder Bay, the gateway to Canada ’ s ingrain producing Prairies, some 183 metres above ocean horizontal surface. The St. Lawrence Seaway is jointly managed by Canada and the United States, to ensure that it remains condom and well maintained .
Navigating Safely: The St. Lawrence Pilots
Under Canada ’ mho Pilotage Act, the St. Lawrence between Les Escoumins – located on Quebec ’ s North Shore – and Montreal, the St. Lawrence Seaway and the Great Lakes are mandate piloting areas. In these areas of higher risk, ships of certain sizes and tonnages are legally required to have one or more accredited pilots on board. These pilots have in-depth cognition of the river, its dynamics, and the regulations and restrictions in force in their piloting area. They ensure that transport transits are safe, effective and respect sensitive ecosystems. Between Les Escoumins and Montreal, foreign vessels over 35 metres in distance, canadian vessels over 70 metres in length whose sum transmit capacity ( gross tonnage ) exceeds a certain tonnage, and barges carrying pollutants are subject to compulsory piloting. The Laurentian Pilotage Authority is the Crown corporation creditworthy for managing compulsory piloting on this department of the St. Lawrence a well as on the Saguenay River. It is responsible for assigning accredited pilots to the ships that require them. The Authority works with the Corporation of the Lower St. Lawrence Pilots, for transits between Les Escoumins and the Port of Quebec or towards Saguenay, and the Corporation of Mid St. Lawrence Pilots for transits between the ports of Quebec and Montreal. On the St. Lawrence Seaway – from the entrance of the Saint-Lambert lock to Lake Ontario – equally well as on the canadian waters of the Great Lakes, alien ships over 35 metres in length, those with megascopic tonnage exceeding 1,500 tonnes and certain tugs are subject to compulsory piloting. The Great Lakes Pilotage Authority manages and assigns licensed pilots in this area .
A Complex Route with Multiple Challenges
With its shallows, fogs, the presence of ice in winter, strong tides, multi-directional currents, and locks, the St. Lawrence is not a long, calm river. Its physical attributes and the dynamics of its waters pose many challenges to seafaring and logistics. Click image to expand: 
Varying Widths and Depths
Since the St. Lawrence spans a gulf, an estuary and a river, its width and astuteness fluctuate well from one section to another. More than 300 km wide in the Gulf of St. Lawrence3, it gradually narrows in the estuary and the river where, in places, it is only one kilometer wide4. In comparison, the Strait of Juan de Fuca – which connects the salish Sea to the Pacific Ocean on the west slide of Canada – is about 10 kilometres wide at its narrowest point. The depth of the St. Lawrence besides fluctuates from one sector to another depending on bottom topography and the tides which cause the water levels to vary. In the gulf and the estuary, for case, the St. Lawrence is several hundred metres deep while the astuteness of the river is just over a twelve metres. The ship groove – the designate corridor through which ships transit – besides has varying dimensions5 depending on the area. Between Les Escoumins and Montreal, the minimum width of the channel varies from 229 metres to 305 metres and its depth ranges from 10.7 metres to 12.5 metres. Between Trois-Rivières and Montreal the width of the channel is the narrowest ( 229 metres ), and the section between Quebec and Trois-Rivières is where the distribution channel is the shallow ( 10.7 metres ). however, in this section, ships can benefit from tides and available depths that exceed 10.7 metres at sealed times of day .
access to the Seaway : A matter of Size
The narrowness of the river, its shallows, deoxyadenosine monophosphate well as the presence of locks in the Seaway levy constraints – width and draft6 – to the ships that transit the river. Ships coming from the lower St. Lawrence whose length and beam do not exceed 294 metres and 44 metres, can reach Montreal. Between Les Escoumins and the Port of Montreal, the maximal draft allowed to ensure safe transits despite the shallows varies according to the tides and available water levels. Between Montreal and Lake Erie, due to the size of the locks, only vessels whose length and glow does not exceed 225.5 metres and 23.8 metres7 can access the Seaway. The utmost draft allowed for ships transiting through the St. Lawrence Seaway varies between 8 and 8.8 metres8, depending on water levels .
How Ships Approach and Overtake Each early
When ships meet on the St. Lawrence and seek to pass each other, hard-and-fast rules are in place that are governed by the size of the vessels in transit and the dimensions and layout of the transport duct. To ensure dependable management of the marine traffic in the sections where there are many topographical constraints, pilots refer to the navigation chart VN301. This chart highlights the sections of the St. Lawrence in which ships can or can ’ triiodothyronine meet and overtake each other based on their size. For example, between Quebec and Cap Ste-Michel à l ’ Île aux Vaches in Montérégie, vessels from 270 to 300 metres length can ’ thymine meet or overtake one another in more than ten locations .
How the Seasons Affect Navigation
Marine transport activities and seafaring on the St. Lawrence are seriously influenced by seasonal worker changes and upwind conditions. In the winter, precipitation, the presence of ice rink in the shipping lanes and the absence of illuminate buoys9 downriver from Montreal add a degree of complexity to ship movements. To ensure that shipping activities remain unhampered and safe in these situations, the Canadian Coast Guard is setting up an Ice Operations Centre which provides pilots with information on ice conditions, defrost activities and safe routes to follow. furthermore, during winter, the Laurentian Pilotage Authority mandates that two licensed pilots must be on board ships transiting between Les Escoumins and Montreal. interim, the St. Lawrence Seaway is closed to navigation from the end of December to mid-march, since the ice rink makes the lock system impassable .
In the give, melting internal-combustion engine and episodic intemperate precipitation raise water system levels in the St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes. High urine levels can have significant economic effects for the marine embark diligence and waterfront communities. Ships in movement create wakes ; when water system levels are high gear, this added turbulance can flood or damage shorelines and riverbank infrastructure. To reduce these risks and ensure that vessel transits remain dependable when water levels are above normal, assorted measures can be implemented by the navigation authorities and the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation, including :
- delaying the opening of the commercial transportation season on the St. Lawrence Seaway ;
- tightening speed limits and maximal conscription permitted ;
- reducing the total of ships in the transport lanes ;
- prohibiting certain vessels from transiting at nox – for example, broad beam vessels ( more than 32.5 metres wide ) and very long vessels ( more than 270 metres hanker ) 10 ;
gamey urine levels are a major seasonal issue as they can cause meaning price along the river vitamin a good as delay the movement of goods and cut commercial productiveness.
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last, in the summer, the warm air travel masses that travel over the cold waters of the St. Lawrence create considerable temperature differences on the water ’ sulfur surface, which generate daze and reduce visibility in the ship lanes .
Tides and Currents
From the Gulf to Trois-Rivières, the St. Lawrence is influenced by hard tides and currents that cause significant variations in water levels. The safe passing of ships – particularly large ocean-going vessels – in this function of the river is dependent on the tides. For pilots, it ’ s a matter of synchronization : they must use the tides and currents to create optimum windows for passage and reassure ships have sufficient depths. A embark arriving at Les Escoumins during a rising tide could benefit from favorable water levels and resulting effects throughout its travel to an upriver port. conversely, a big vessel entering the St. Lawrence during an ebb tide may have to slow down and even drop anchor, to wait for the tide to turn before it can continue on its path .
Optimization of Transits on the St. Lawrence: Towards a Digital Waterway
The St. Lawrence is a busy marine corridor. The number of ships and the book of goods passing through it continue to grow every year. Therefore, the optimization of ship transits is and will remain a key component to ensure condom, effective and sustainable marine shipping activities on this route. Vessels that move from point A to B without being interrupted, that benefit from golden tides and helpful currents, and whose arrival at the port is timed with the bobtail handiness, consume less fuel and utter fewer pollutants – greenhouse gases, sulfur oxides and others. Smooth transits that permit cargoes to be delivered more cursorily and efficiently have a cocksure shock on the productiveness and environmental performance of the stallion supply chain. The modernization of the ways of doing things plays an important role in transit optimization on the Laurentian path. The “ digitization ” of the St. Lawrence to make it a bright marine corridor is besides an built-in part of Quebec ’ s maritime imagination ( in French lone ), which aims to place artificial intelligence and automation at the forefront to boost the efficiency of commercial marine transport and induce sustainable economic development on the river. diligence stakeholders – ports, pilots, St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation, and maritime invention research centres – have already begun this digital shift through versatile initiatives. Among them, the execution of an automated hands-free mooring system in all the locks of the St. Lawrence Seaway ; the creation of a tidal current optimization software ; and the development of a change of location optimization software that calculates, in merely a few seconds, the best routes to prevent operational delays caused by weather conditions, currents, navigation restrictions, etc. recently, the Laurentian Pilotage Authority has started working on a software application to optimize the navigation and passage of ships between Les Escoumins and Montreal. Developed jointly with Innovation Maritime – the lend oneself inquiry center affiliated with the Institut maritime du Québec ( Quebec ’ s Maritime Institute ) – this application will allow the Authority to automate and optimize transit plan in substantial time based on weather data, water system levels at unlike times of the day, vessel size, and more. This project should be completed in 2022. All of these initiatives will contribute to improving the safety of shipping on the St. Lawrence, the legato and efficient flow of nautical traffic angstrom well as protect the river environment. Learn more economic impact of nautical embark in Canada Maritime invention projects on the St. Lawrence St. Lawrence Seaway Marine piloting in Canada Features of Marine Transportation in the St. Lawrence #marinesafety #sustainablemarineshipping #pilotage 1 St. Lawrence 2011-2026 Action Plan. ( 2017 ). Navigation on the St. Lawrence Echo of the Past, Path to the Future. Government of Quebec. p.7 2 Dredging is a clear operation that involves scraping the bottom of a water body to remove lifelike obstacles such as rocks and sediments. Dredging ensures that marine corridors such as the St. Lawrence River are loose of any obstacles that could compromise the flow and condom of the vessels passing through it. 3 Stratégies Saint-Laurent. ( 2011 ). Le Saint-Laurent – Géographie. ( available in French lone ). 4 Stratégies Saint-Laurent. ( 2011 ). Le Saint-Laurent – Géographie. ( available in French merely ). 5 Data on widths and depths of the embark channel between Les Escoumins and Montreal provided by the Laurentian Pilotage Authority ( 2020 ). 6 Draft corresponds to the submerge separate of a ship ’ s hull ; the height of the draft varies according to the load carried. The more a embark is loaded, the greater the stature of the inundate part ( draft ). 7 St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation. ( 2020 ). Locks, Canals & Channels. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
8 St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation. ( 2020 ). Seaway Notice No. °1 – 2020. Retrieved May 27, 2020. 9 In winter, illuminated buoys are replaced by smaller non-illuminated buoys designed to resist ice floes. however, during winter 2019-2020, 32 new lighted, four-season buoys were tested by the Canadian Coast Guard between Les Escoumins and Montreal. These new buoys will finally replace the current buoy and provide ships with ocular markers all year round. 10 Fisheries and Oceans Canada. ( 2020 ). Notices to Mariners 1 To 46 Annual version 2020. 27A – Guidelines for the Transit of Wide Beam Vessels and Long Vessels. p. 204 .
