CORNWALL — The 67th shipping season of the St. Lawrence-Seaway has officially closed. The final vessel transited the Lake Ontario-St. Lawrence River section January 12, making it the latest closing day in the history of the Seaway.
Weather delayed the planned January 5 closing of the international waterway for six days. St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation, which operates the Canadian locks in the system, dealt with ice in the South Shore and Beauharnois Canals near Montréal. Canadian Coast Guard ships were used to break ice, which SLSMC crews de-iced locks until the last of the ships were through.
According to Michael Fulsom with the St. Lawrence Ship Watchers Network, the last ships through for the season was the Noelle G (down-bound) and the Algoma Equinox (up-bound).
This is the latest the Seaway has closed since 1958. In 2018, the Seaway closed on January 11, marking an end to the 2017 shipping season. That closure was delayed by weather and a ship being stuck in the locks. The latest scheduled closing of the Seaway was last year, when the 2024 season came to a close on January 10, 2025.
The cost of keeping the Lake Ontario-St. Lawrence River section of the Seaway open during the weather delays were not released by the SLSMC.
No final shipping information or statistics have been released, and the date for the start of the 2026 season has yet to be announced.
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