Seaway strike would shut waterway

WASHINGTON — A threatened strike by Canadian lock workers on the St. Lawrence Seaway would shut down the inland waterway and could trap ocean vessels in the lakes for the winter, shipping sources warned.

The Canadian St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp. and unionized lock workers are set to resume negotiations Oct. 4 in an effort to avert a strike, which workers announced last week they are considering.

More than 400 Canadian lock workers represented by the Canadian Auto Workers have been working without a contract. The union members voted to strike on 72 hours' notice anytime after Oct. 10.

The Seaway Management Corp. has called for work force reductions. But a spokesman, Andrew Bogora, said Wednesday that no current employees would lose their jobs and that the corporation is optimistic the parties can reach an agreement that allows management to adjust work rules and adapt new technology.

The possibility of a strike, however, has shippers worried.

"It would stop Seaway commerce," said Stuart H. Theis, executive director of the U.S. Great Lakes Shipping Association, representing vessel agents. "It's a serious thing."

Ships heading into the system could not enter in Quebec, and shippers with vessels already on the lakes "get fearful that they wouldn't be able to get out," Mr. Theis said.

Already, he said, shippers are considering alternative routes and considering rushing their ships out of the system before a possible shutdown. The shipping season typically ends in late December.

The Seaway agencies reported 20 vessels from Montreal to the Welland Canal at the western end of Lake Ontario on Wednesday.

Although a work stoppage would affect only Canadian locks, those are the most numerous in the system — outnumbering U.S. locks 13 to two.

The two U.S. locks are the Snell and Eisenhower near Massena. The U.S. St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corp. runs those locks.

"It only takes one choke point," Mr. Theis said.

The Seaway Development Corp.'s director, Collister M. Johnson, declined through a spokesman to discuss the potential effect of a Canadian Seaway strike. It would be the most serious threat to Seaway commerce since a breakdown at the Welland Canal in the 1980s.

If a strike does occur, Mr. Bogora said, officials believe that it would be brief and that shippers will have adjusted by making other transport arrangements. Freight would move to rail and roads and possibly the Mississippi River, he said.

The Canadian Seaway Management Corp., formerly a government agency, has been a nonprofit enterprise since 1998. The U.S. Seaway Development Corp. is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation, and its workers are public employees.