Port of Thunder Bay Opening of Navigation Luncheon
by Scott A. Sumner
I asked Ken Carey, General Manager- Commercial for St Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation some questions at the recent Opening of Navigation luncheon.
The Seaway system is an important economic player in Canada?
“ We support over 300,000 plus jobs and billions of dollars of employment and income and paying taxes, a key point of the economic industry within the heartland, including Thunder Bay.”
“ The Port of Thunder Bay and Duluth are the two furthest west in our H2O highway. The Port of Thunder Bay is one of our largest ports with grain, potash and more with 7 million tonnes through the Welland Canal.”
Given recent political events with the US could it be an option for crude oil shipping through the Port of Thunder Bay?
“ Yes I think it's possible- after working at the rail for many years it's possible. There are things that have to work out like finding vessel capacity, a ship to take it out to wherever, but the infrastructure is here. Thunder Bay is set up very well for the loop tracks, well positioned and it could happen fairly quickly in a business world. You would still need vessels and other options but a lot of the infrastructure is already in place. There are vessels available but you need them to commit and all the parties at the table.”
“ One of the roles we play at the Canadian Seaway is we act as a catalyst to bring those parties together. Today I said we are going to re-engage with some of those parities to see if now is the right time with everything going on in the world, with the uncertainty now may be the right time. It hasn't happened yet but now the right parties might want to invest the money to start up. Things are changing today. I do know from my background in the logistics perspective, which is my true background, there is a supply chain that would be very efficient ready to go almost now.”
How does the Seaway work with the US?
“ We do work well with the US, the GLS- the Great Lakes St Lawrence Development Corp are part of the government work force in the US and work wonderfully with us in events. We do speaking engagements to support the industry. “
