Maritime Transportation
The Great Lakes Transportation Corridor, often referred to as the Great Lakes/St. Lawrence Seaway, is an important transportation system of lakes, locks, canals and rivers connecting the center of North America manufacturing to the global marketplace.
Efficient transportation systems keep the U.S. competitive in global trade. Our basic labor and manufacturing costs are generally higher than our competitors, but our logistical skills and highly advanced transportation networks reduce overall costs to such an extent that it allows us to compete. continued…
Featured Articles
- Freshwater Ballast Testing Facility Opens
- Companies can now hook their latest ballast water treatment systems up to the world's first freshwater testing facility for ballast technologies, located on the shores of the Duluth-Superior Harbor.
- What's in the Ships?
- Read about the different cargos and ships that ply Great Lakes waters.
- Law Center Identifies Potential Leaks in Michigan Ballast Water Legislation
- Is it constitutional for states to regulate ballast water? Michigan tests the legal system to protect the Great Lakes.
- The Great Lakes Maritime Transportation System: Critical Energy for Change
- Take a look at how transportation system issues have changed, and stayed the same, over the past twenty years.
- Jumping Back Into the Harbor
- The Great Lakes Maritime Research Institute (GLMRI), founded in 2004, has allowed Minnesota Sea Grant to re-address the issues of ports, harbors and maritime industries.
- Harbor Corrosion: It’s the Pits
- The rapid aging of steel in the Duluth Superior Harbor puzzles even corrosion experts. Five specialists offer observations and advice to port officials, university and agency staff, and Sea Grant.
- From the Great Lakes to the Gulf
- In light of the recent ban by Great Lakes governors on water diversions, we thought you’d find this story about a historic plan for a canal between Lake Superior and the St. Croix River of interest.
Maritime Transportation Issues
- Ballast and Anti-invasive Species Technologies
- Flow through ballast systems and treatable ballast systems are two ways to help control the spread of aquatic invasive species.
- Duluth-Superior Port
- Protected by a natural sandbar, the Duluth-Superior Harbor holds the largest port on the Great Lakes.
Get a Load of This!
- Bentonite
- About 147,000 metric tons of bentonite, a type of clay, left the U.S. in 2006 by way of Hallett's Dock #5 in Duluth, Minn. By weight, it's like exporting 24,000 very large African elephants on 11 boats.
Bentonite shows up in many products, but is mainly used for drilling operations, and to line and seal landfills and similar sites.
Much of the commercial bentonite mined in the U.S. comes from between the Black Hills of South Dakota and the Big Horn Basin of Montana and travels to Duluth by train. Bentonite made up most of the export tonnage that earned the Hallett Dock Company a prestigious Pacesetter Award from the St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation.
Dale Bergeron
