sparky212
Apr 13, 2009, 12:22 AM
The Great Lakes transportation system is limping along at only half-capacity at a time when it could be taking traffic off Ontario's busy roads and rail lines, reducing border congestion and sharply curtailing greenhouse emissions, Chip Martin reports.
SPECIAL REPORT: Highway H2O
Chip Martin
London Free Press
April 11, 2009
Are we missing the boat?
Chip Martin
Freighters -- mainly from Europe -- delivered a wide range of goods to the docks at a bustling Port Stanley into the late 1950s for shipment to companies in London, St. Thomas and area. Port Stanley's harbour is no longer viable because it's silt-filled and needs to be dredged. (Sun Media file photo)
Highway H20. It's not on everyone's lips yet. Or maps. So it's often overlooked.
Even London, which wants to be an international transportation hub, is in danger of missing the boat on this one.
The so-called Highway H20 is the Great Lakes transportation system. It's running at only half-capacity at a time when it could be taking traffic off Ontario's busy roads and rail lines, reducing border congestion and sharply curtailing greenhouse emissions.
For London, a rejuvenated Lakes highway could mean a return to the days when it had a direct link to lake traffic -- via a rail line from Port Stanley, once a thriving port.
"We see it as a system that people are really going to appreciate environmentally and from a cost standpoint," says David Cree, head of the Windsor Port Authority and an executive member of the Ontario Marine Transportation Forum.
Consider:
One regular-sized ship could remove as many as 875 transport trucks from Ontario highways and burn a fraction of the fossil fuel they use.
One freighter can carry enough wheat to make bread for everyone in London, Toronto, Ottawa and Hamilton for nearly a month.
It can carry enough coal to produce enough electricity to power Toronto for a day.
It can carry 225 rail cars.
One freighter can move a tonne of freight up to 800 kilometres on four litres of fuel. In a train, that amount of fuel would transport a tonne less than 100 kilometres and by truck less than 30 kilometres.
The marine industry created the transportation forum to urge the province to develop a policy similar to that in Quebec that has led to thriving "short-sea shipping" of interconnected ports.
Queen's Park, particularly the Transportation Ministry, has endorsed the concept of a multi-modal transportation network beyond roads and highways to ease pressure on the environment.
And a government- commissioned study of Great Lakes shipping in Ontario is due out this spring.
Cree hopes the study will draw attention to the benefits of using an under-used resource.
"We hope some initiatives will come from that in terms of provincial support," he says.
Cree says little money is needed to upgrade the waterway system to accommodate increased shipping, but help is needed to promote the idea.
"It's a critical first step to sensitize lawmakers," he says of the report, which will outline the impact of the marine industry and its potential in the province.
The marine industry in Ontario still does $2.2 billion in business annually and it's fighting back to regain ground lost with the growth of trucking and rebirth of rail transport. Currently, Highway H2O has only one pit stop on Lake Erie -- Port Colborne at the entrance to the Welland Canal.
As for Port Stanley being included among ports on Highway H20, Cree says: "We want to see as much traffic as we can on the Great Lakes." But he said it's up to each port to determine whether being connected makes sense.
While London has made much of its desire to be an international transportation hub, it has made no mention of including marine traffic being among the nodes.
Mayor Anne Marie DeCicco-Best, who has joined the push to develop her city into that hub, says getting Port Stanley back into the shipping game would be a big plus.
"I think that could be a natural addition to the other (transportation) nodes that we are talking about. The airport is an important one, having the 400-series highways is another important one and rail is important," she says.
"Port Stanley is close enough to us that I think it could be a natural addition to the kinds of things we are talking about, even though we haven't spoken about that specifically in any of our reports."
Count us in, says Mike Bradley, mayor of Sarnia, a hub of rail, road and marine traffic.
Bradley recalls a time in the 1960s when traffic on the St. Clair River was more than that in the Suez and Panama canals combined.
The marked decline of shipping, he says, is "sad. It is a much better way to do things with less environmental impact."
Bradley is a member of a group of Great Lakes mayors who promote issues of common interest.
"We would really like to see an upgrade and a return to more traffic on the Great Lakes," he says.
--- --- ---
TOUGH TIMES
The St. Lawrence Seaway and Great Lakes system is an important means of moving goods to and from the ports of the world. But it has seen tough times in recent years with the growth of trucking and rebirth of rail transport.
The Great Lakes/St. Lawrence waterway is longer than the Atlantic Ocean is wide -- more than 3,740 kilometres long.
It generates more than $4 billion annually and 17,000 direct jobs in Canada.
Ontario is home to 15 of Canada's leading ports, responsible for nearly 30% of Canada's domestic marine trade.
SPECIAL REPORT: Highway H2O
Chip Martin
London Free Press
April 11, 2009
Are we missing the boat?
Chip Martin
Freighters -- mainly from Europe -- delivered a wide range of goods to the docks at a bustling Port Stanley into the late 1950s for shipment to companies in London, St. Thomas and area. Port Stanley's harbour is no longer viable because it's silt-filled and needs to be dredged. (Sun Media file photo)
Highway H20. It's not on everyone's lips yet. Or maps. So it's often overlooked.
Even London, which wants to be an international transportation hub, is in danger of missing the boat on this one.
The so-called Highway H20 is the Great Lakes transportation system. It's running at only half-capacity at a time when it could be taking traffic off Ontario's busy roads and rail lines, reducing border congestion and sharply curtailing greenhouse emissions.
For London, a rejuvenated Lakes highway could mean a return to the days when it had a direct link to lake traffic -- via a rail line from Port Stanley, once a thriving port.
"We see it as a system that people are really going to appreciate environmentally and from a cost standpoint," says David Cree, head of the Windsor Port Authority and an executive member of the Ontario Marine Transportation Forum.
Consider:
One regular-sized ship could remove as many as 875 transport trucks from Ontario highways and burn a fraction of the fossil fuel they use.
One freighter can carry enough wheat to make bread for everyone in London, Toronto, Ottawa and Hamilton for nearly a month.
It can carry enough coal to produce enough electricity to power Toronto for a day.
It can carry 225 rail cars.
One freighter can move a tonne of freight up to 800 kilometres on four litres of fuel. In a train, that amount of fuel would transport a tonne less than 100 kilometres and by truck less than 30 kilometres.
The marine industry created the transportation forum to urge the province to develop a policy similar to that in Quebec that has led to thriving "short-sea shipping" of interconnected ports.
Queen's Park, particularly the Transportation Ministry, has endorsed the concept of a multi-modal transportation network beyond roads and highways to ease pressure on the environment.
And a government- commissioned study of Great Lakes shipping in Ontario is due out this spring.
Cree hopes the study will draw attention to the benefits of using an under-used resource.
"We hope some initiatives will come from that in terms of provincial support," he says.
Cree says little money is needed to upgrade the waterway system to accommodate increased shipping, but help is needed to promote the idea.
"It's a critical first step to sensitize lawmakers," he says of the report, which will outline the impact of the marine industry and its potential in the province.
The marine industry in Ontario still does $2.2 billion in business annually and it's fighting back to regain ground lost with the growth of trucking and rebirth of rail transport. Currently, Highway H2O has only one pit stop on Lake Erie -- Port Colborne at the entrance to the Welland Canal.
As for Port Stanley being included among ports on Highway H20, Cree says: "We want to see as much traffic as we can on the Great Lakes." But he said it's up to each port to determine whether being connected makes sense.
While London has made much of its desire to be an international transportation hub, it has made no mention of including marine traffic being among the nodes.
Mayor Anne Marie DeCicco-Best, who has joined the push to develop her city into that hub, says getting Port Stanley back into the shipping game would be a big plus.
"I think that could be a natural addition to the other (transportation) nodes that we are talking about. The airport is an important one, having the 400-series highways is another important one and rail is important," she says.
"Port Stanley is close enough to us that I think it could be a natural addition to the kinds of things we are talking about, even though we haven't spoken about that specifically in any of our reports."
Count us in, says Mike Bradley, mayor of Sarnia, a hub of rail, road and marine traffic.
Bradley recalls a time in the 1960s when traffic on the St. Clair River was more than that in the Suez and Panama canals combined.
The marked decline of shipping, he says, is "sad. It is a much better way to do things with less environmental impact."
Bradley is a member of a group of Great Lakes mayors who promote issues of common interest.
"We would really like to see an upgrade and a return to more traffic on the Great Lakes," he says.
--- --- ---
TOUGH TIMES
The St. Lawrence Seaway and Great Lakes system is an important means of moving goods to and from the ports of the world. But it has seen tough times in recent years with the growth of trucking and rebirth of rail transport.
The Great Lakes/St. Lawrence waterway is longer than the Atlantic Ocean is wide -- more than 3,740 kilometres long.
It generates more than $4 billion annually and 17,000 direct jobs in Canada.
Ontario is home to 15 of Canada's leading ports, responsible for nearly 30% of Canada's domestic marine trade.