As an example; if I want to put a parcel onboard a ship while she is transiting the Seaway, I will have to inform and get permission from the Seaway authority with the consent from the ship master. The master has to present to the Seaway Authority a list of personnel that will be attending the ship while in transit. All personnel entering onto Seaway property must conform to their regulation for security and safety.
The flow of cargo to and from the Great Lakes port all have to enter into or exit the Seaway System and locks in Montreal, Canada.  Some cargo ships built for the Great Lakes are never exiting as they are on regular trade routes within the Great Lakes and have no need to exit. Some cannot exit as they are too large for the Seaway Locks in the Welland canal and also in the locks between Lake Ontario and Montreal. These ships are mostly dry bulk cargo ships transporting coal and other commodities within the Great Lakes. The crew and officers on these ships are of US and Canadian nationality.

In the latter years we have seen increase in barge traffic on the lower “Lakes”, mostly handled by push boats. The cargo is mixed of dry and liquid bulk.

Foreign ships entering into the Great Lakes have to conform to Saint Lawrence Seaway regulation. To verify and approve a vessel, a joint USA and Canada inspection is performed in Montreal on the first voyage of the navigation season. The ship and crew are inspected and approved for the season. However a inspector is still verifying the ship while in first lock on each voyage inbound Great Lakes. Since the international ballast regulation came into effect and also since a joint Canada/USA ballast control system came online for the Great Lakes, verification at same time as Seaway inspection is also done. The US and Canadian Seaway Inspectors are filling out a ballast report conforming to both US and Canadian regulations. Vessel will have to keep log of all sampling of new ballast to make sure that salt level is sufficiently high.

Note Following:

As a website completely independent of Government and Shipping companies, Maritime Community is planning to put some time into writing about the various segments of the Saint Lawrence River and Great Lakes, the companies and technologies involved in this area.

Having a lot of ships moving around in the local waters means that there has to be a very active and well-organized maritime community that can offer the back up and service that these vessels will need. There is always need for repairs and supply of just about anything available under the sun. The service people in the maritime community have to be available on relative short notice. It’s not like in the industrial sector where all stops at days end. Ships continue to move around the clock.
People live onboard these ships and they have to make sure that the ship can continue to operate around the clock. That is their job. Engineer will look after the engines and other mechanical work that has to be done. The navigation officers will make sure that they move safely from port to port loading and unloading the cargo they be hired to transport.
In Montreal, the demand on fast service is very common as this is the place where you have the first lock entering into the Saint Lawrence Seaway and things tend to happen very fast. Ships that enter into the Seaway for the first time might have some problems that are usually ironed out very fast. The demand for continues movement while in the Seaway is quiet high.

This light introduction to the demand for service speed in Montreal is just the beginning of a series of articles under way covering the Maritime Community in USA and Canada.

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