When I was asked to write this edition of “From the Boardroom” on the St. Lawrence Seaway, the staff member doing the asking admitted not knowing what it was. That comment generalizes the existence of “The Seaway”, most people don’t know about it. Yet, as ISA works to leave “no stone unturned” in our pursuit of moving more Illinois soybeans, the Seaway will pop up as one of those stones we must address routinely. My situation is different in that I have personally advocated for its’ growing use to exporters in Rotterdam, Netherlands back in 2024 and continue to promote it as an alternative any chance I get.

The St. Lawrence Seaway will always play a supporting role to the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers when we view bulk cargoes of Illinois soybeans. What it does provide Illinois growers is another route for competing soybeans from the states surrounding the Great Lakes to move out of the upper Midwest, from harbors on the lakes, and then move through Canada on the Seaway and into the Atlantic.

The Seaway was built between 1954 and 1959 as a venture between the U.S. and Canada with each country providing its own management corporation to develop and operate a portion of the route. At the time, bulk cargoes of grain, petroleum and iron ore were traversing the Great Lakes and shipping to the European Union, a vital trade partner at the time for those commodities. From the furthest port of Duluth, MN to the Atlantic Ocean, a distance of 2,342 miles is covered with 16 locks on the system raising and lowering boats 243 feet in elevation. Ships using the Seaway are smaller than those we commonly think of in the more familiar canals, such as the Panama Canal. But the size is still significant enough to annually move valuable tonnage.

The importance of the St. Lawrence Seaway as a shipping route is coming back into focus because of how worldwide trade has evolved. The use of shipping containers to move grain is growing, both because of empty container availability and the high quality of grain that is maintained when delivered through an upper Midwest/Canada route and across the North Atlantic. While not frequently moving Illinois’ soybeans it does free up other lanes of transportation for our own grain, especially during harvest time.