FINAL REPORT - International Joint Commission

ANNEX 2
Performance Indicators
Commercial navigation looks at the total transportation costs in U.S. dollars vs. water elevation, for the
three geographic areas, per quarter-month.
Total transportation cost curves were derived for each quarter-month. Cost estimates were derived from
1995-99 commercial navigation traffic, and represent the best available data on commercial activities, cargo
and vessel mix at the time the studies were initiated. The Seaway system in the study years (1995-99)
was operating at approximately 45% of capacity in terms of transits. This does not reflect current vessel
movements at Montreal, especially container traffic, and may underestimate the impacts on commercial
navigation, particularly at Montreal.
Quarter monthly water levels for any alternative regulation plan were converted to daily water levels,
assuming a linear interpolation between quarter-monthly data points. Vessel departure dates were used to
identify the range of water levels that a vessel would encounter during its transit. These water levels
governed the maximum load the ship could carry. The lowest water level encountered during the transit
governed ship’s carrying capability. These water levels were compared with the metrics developed for the
geographical areas the vessel would transit. These metrics determined whether the vessel had to slow
down or stop during its movement. A running summary of total transit times was computed for each
vessel. These transit times were then converted to costs using daily vessel operating costs associated
with various vessel types. Vessel operating costs were developed for 26 vessel types.
Two component sub-models were developed to isolate commercial navigation costs arising from three
factors: costs due to ship transits based on tons carried according to available water levels; costs due to
currents; and costs due to high gradient delays. Sub-model a) tracked a vessel through its movement and
kept track of all three potential costs and the hours of travel associated with these three costs. Sub-model
b) converted these hours of transits to dollars. Currents encountered during a movement affected vessel
speeds and thus total transit times. Gradients encountered during a vessel movement also impacted total
transit times. If specific gradients were exceeded during a voyage, the vessel would stop until the gradient
returned to a level below the target gradient.
Baseline Economics – Commercial Navigation
The St. Lawrence Seaway opened in April 1959. In combination with the eight locks on the Welland Canal,
the Seaway allows ocean-going vessels and lakers up to 23.8 m (78 ft) in width and 225.4 m (740 ft) in
length to access all of the Great Lakes. The Montreal-Lake Ontario section of the Seaway is an integral part
of this system. This section encompasses a series of seven locks, which allow ships to navigate between
the lower St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario. The system serves the area called “the Midcontinent
region,” which constitutes the industrial and agricultural heartland of North America. This area encompasses
eight Great Lakes states, and the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The system also serves the large
Canadian mining operations in Quebec and Labrador, as well as large metropolitan areas located along the
St. Lawrence River in the province of Quebec.
Overall, imports and exports to, from, and within the region average some 146 billion tonne-kilometres
(100 billion ton miles) annually. Over 27 million tonnes (30 million tons) per year, representing some
2,950 ship movements, are shipped annually through the Montreal-Lake Ontario section of the system.
Montreal Harbour is the most important container port in eastern Canada and one of the fifteen largest in
North America, handling about a fourth of the container volume of the New York/New Jersey harbour.
According to the Port of Montreal, container traffic grew from about 7.1 million metric tones (7.8 million
tons) in 1994 to 10.8 million tonnes (11.9 million tons) in 2004. Vessel size and draft has increased
substantially over the past 40 years. Containerized shipping through the Port of Montreal is expanding as
part of a worldwide boom of containership trade.
90 Options for Managing Lake Ontario and St. Lawrence River Water Levels and Flows