IMMEDIATE RELEASE             October 19, 2005

Duluth Seaway Port Authority Executive Director Adolph Ojard met in London yesterday (October 18) with high level representatives of European shipping companies at a press conference promoting greater use of the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway System.

U.S. St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation (SLSDC) Administrator Albert S. Jacquez, Canadian St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation (SLSMC) President Richard Corfe and Duluth Port Director and American Great Lakes Ports Association President Adolph Ojard addressed the gathering as part of a binational week-long trade mission to northern Europe sponsored by the SLSDC and the SLSMC.

Ojard stressed the advantages of reaching the heartland of North America via the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway System and the Port of Duluth-Superior.

“Today’s new world-wide economic geography is no longer made up of individual nations.  It is made up of multi-national blocks connected by free-trade agreements and shared transportation systems.  The Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway System, which begins and ends at the Port of Duluth-Superior, is a key transportation corridor.  It links population centers—where manufacturing and consumption occur—with an integrated, world-wide transportation network,” said Ojard.

Mission delegates, 22 senior marine industry officials from throughout the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway System, are meeting with senior maritime officials in London, Hamburg, Brake and Bremen, and also have meetings scheduled with well-known maritime organizations such as the International Maritime Organization, International Chamber of Shipping, Intercargo, the Passenger Shipping Association and the Baltic Exchange.  Discussions centered on service to Great Lakes markets are also planned with Dutch shipper Wagenborg and Beluga Shipping officials.

The delegation’s hope is to attract new cargoes from the United Kingdom and Germany.  Currently, about five percent of total Seaway traffic can be traced to both nations.  Most of that cargo is inbound steel, but forestry products to Great Lakes ports have been a growth commodity in recent years that delegates hope to build upon.

The SLSDC and SLSMC annually conduct international trade missions, and previous missions have been instrumental in attracting new business to the waterway.  Results have included more ships offering cruising itineraries, new project cargoes and introduction of forestry product shipments from northern Europe.  Wagenborg and Canadian ship owner Fednav have designed more than a dozen new ships capable of transiting the Seaway after detailed meetings with trade mission officials.

More Press Releases, 2005