DULUTH, MN (Northern News Now) – Shipments between the Great Lakes ports and the rest of the world are on pause following a labor strike that has shut down the St. Lawrence Seaway.
On Sunday, UNIFOR, the unionized workers of Canada’s St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation, went on strike following a failed contract negotiation.
Jason Hron from the Duluth Seaway Port Authority says the labor stoppage is keeping ocean going vessels from passing through the seaway.
The strike directly impacts the Welland Canal, the Canadian locks between Buffalo and Montreal.
Due to the St. Lawrence Seaway System’s linear setup, all ships attempting to come in or out of the Seaway, through the Welland Canal, are blocked until the strike is resolved.
Hron says the strike impacts cargo owners, dock workers and the companies that produce the goods that move in and out of ports.
This is the first mid-season strike in the Seaway since 1968, and if the strike is not resolved soon the Canadian government could pass a provision that would allow grain shipments through the canal, but other shipments would still be blocked.
(from Northern News Now)
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