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St-Lawrence Seaway Reduced Capacity
2010-06-27
Lower than usual water levels in the Montreal area are forcing ocean–going vessels using the St. Lawrence Seaway to reduce their bulk and breakbulk tonnages and/or containers numbers. A light winter snowfall and dry spring have prompted the Canadian and U.S. management agencies for the St. Lawrence Seaway to require ocean-going vessels using the Seaway to lower their maximum draft by 3 inches to 26 feet 3 inches. A spokesperson for Canada’s St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp., explained that oceangoing ships are shorter and "have a greater tendency to squat, pushing the aft portion of the vessel down in the water." Each inch of draft lost represents 75 tonnes of cargo not carried: losing three inches means lightening loads by 225 tonnes.
What it means is that fewer containers on vessels to lighten the weight and a reduction of space available in an increasingly difficult capacity shortage situation. As a result, Members are having containers left behind and it can be expected that the situation will not improve over the next few weeks if rainfall does not increase. Also, CIFFA has been informed that inbound cargo is also being left behind in European ports due to the tonnage restrictions.
Hapag Lloyd has also advised that they were revising their vessel capacities accordingly and regret that this may lead to some inconvenience for their customers. They are working to lift as much cargo as possible and are investigating alternative routings. Other carriers such as MSC are implementing low water surcharges for sailings out of the port of Montreal. Alternative routings such as through the port of Halifax are also being taxed due to the increase in demand.
Source:CIFFA
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