CORNWALL – Following four years of decline, shipping traffic on the St. Lawrence Seaway has begun to rebound, despite the current tariff war between the United States and Canada.
The Seaway, which opened for the 2025 season in late March, saw a 3.66 per cent increase in year-over-year traffic in April 2025. A 22 per cent increase in grain shipments and 15.6 per cent increase in bulk liquid shipments help buoy overall traffic numbers.
Coal, Iron Ore, and General Bulk traffic plummeted in April 2025, showing double-digit decreases in traffic.
Overall traffic saw 4.52 million tonnes shipped through the Seaway this April, up from 4.36 million in 2024. Total vessel traffic through the shipping waterway was down by four transits from this time last year – in all 475 ships sailed via the Seaway.
SLSMC President and CEO Jim Athansiou called the start of the season “steady”.
“We’re seeing steady performance, which is encouraging given today’s economic climate,” he said. “With tariffs and other pressures still unfolding, it’s too early to know the full extent of what lies ahead. But the results to date suggest that the Seaway corridor continues to do its job, reliably and efficiently.”
For April 2021, the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation reported four million tonnes of shipments through the Seaway, on 416 ships.
The 2024 shipping season was the slowest season in the past five years.
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