A user's guide to the Great Lakes St Lawrence Seaway System

You’ll have less paperwork to deal with
One benefit proponents of short-sea shipping are quick to tout is the sheer bureaucratic efficiencies it can afford. For instance, a ship requires only one bill of lading. Since a vessel on the GLSLS can transport the equivalent of hundreds of trucks, taking this tack cuts the necessary documentation to a fraction of what is required on land.

For cross-border shipments, as is the case with other modes, Customs and security paperwork must be submitted ahead of time. But since there is generally little congestion to contend with at the landing port, clearance is usually a relatively quick process.

If you commit, they will come
Despite all these benefits, container traffic remains in its nascent stages on the GLSLS. Regular services exist, but they’re few and far between.

“There’s been so much talk about short-sea over the past few years, but not a lot of true action,” Kinnaird admits.

Much of the problem is the high start-up costs and risks associated with launching a marine service. The out-front investment is much more than that required for rail or trucking, which makes carriers hesitate.

“For modern short-sea shipping, you need the vessel that’s going to move the cargo cost-effectively, and they’re not as available as you might think,” Heney explains.

Working in the carriers’ favour is the relative affordability of vessels since demand has slackened around the world. Still, few are likely to invest without some form of shipper commitment, especially since foreign-made vessels are still hit with a 25 percent duty in Canada.

Many feel that for the GLSLS to really take off, all stakeholders—including cargo owners—are going to have to pitch in.

“Every port in the Great Lakes would love any ship owner to come in with their ship. But it doesn’t quite work that way,” says Van Nieuwkoop. “You can’t put all the pressure of operating the line, especially in the start-up phase, on the ship owner.

“If you are able to manage that risk among the stakeholders that benefit from it—the stevedores, the shippers, the ports, etc—then it becomes palatable and doable.”