Welland Canal

Freedom

Freedom is now near Chicago on AIS now

Splashing New 72' Neptunus

Today they splashed a new 72' Neptunus in Port Weller Harbour.

New 52' Princess

Today the M/V Federal Kushiro was up bound Welland Canal bound for Cleveland Ohio with a new 52' Princess for Jefferson Beach Yacht Sales.
They used to unload the Princess in New York and bring them up the Erie Canal and then the Welland Canal to St. Clair Shores, and now load them in England and ship them to Cleveland.

M/Y Bliss

I see M/Y Bliss is now in Lake Michigan, her AIS says she is heading to Halifax. She is 52 (M) long I assume she is a new Palmer Johnson. Will get pictures when she goes down Welland Canal.

Palmer Johnson (BLISS)

Bliss was down bound Welland Canal heading to Halifax.

Neptunus 72'

Picture of the new 72' Neptunus that they splashed a few weeks ago with her top on. Will be taking her up canal this Sunday.
Also M/Y Chanticleer is due here in a few days.

M/Y Chanticleer

Chanticleer was up bound Welland Canal today.

Old Picture Welland Canal

Below is an old black negative I scanned taken in the Welland Canal not sure what year.

Today was a busy day for yachts, in one lock was 2 forty foot sail boats, 88' sailboat (Cap2) yacht Catera 108' not sure what make, and a 108' yacht Anna Marie, the captain said was made by Chris Craft, and a 50' trawler.
Tomorrow taking up Captain Ed on M/Y Vahalla.

For any yachts that have not cleared Great Lakes. STRIKE ON THE SEAWAY









Kevin Jack
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Strike looming on the Seaway
Posted on 10/28/2014 5:11:00 PM by Canadian Press

A strike by workers on the St. Lawrence Seaway could be just a few days away.

Five Unifor locals along the seaway from Niagara to Montreal announced Tuesday they were serving 72 hours' strike notice along the waterway.

The union says one of the key issues in contract talks is staffing levels at the locks as the seaway moves to hands-free mooring, eliminating staff currently working on the locks.

The union is calling for minimum staffing levels on the locks to deal with emergencies.

Strike notice was served at the resumption of contract talks in Cornwall, Ont., the first time the two sides had met in months.

Unifor filed for federal conciliation in August, and the earliest a strike could begin is this Friday at 12:15 p.m.

The workers earlier voted 96 per cent in support of a strike.

The five union branches along the St. Lawrence Seaway Locals 4212 and 4211 in Niagara and Cornwall, Locals 4319 and 4320 in Montreal and Local 4323 in Iroquois have about 460 members.

``The communities along the seaway benefit both from the good jobs it provides, and the work our members do to keep the waterway safe,'' Unifor National Representative Joel Fournier said in a release.

``We believe that having no one at the lock is not a good idea,'' said Fournier. ``The risk of an environmental disaster with all of the dangerous cargo going through the Seaway is very real.''

The St. Lawrence Seaway, which extends from Montreal to mid-Lake Erie, includes 13 Canadian and two U.S. locks

When ship enters the lock the ship uses four one inch steel lines.
This video shows the new machines that were tested for about four years and they did not work on all the ships.

Now they have new machines that work better.
The cost is 90 Million dollars to install these machines on the whole Seaway.
On the Welland Canal there are eight lock with three crew on every lock.
When they install these machines there will only be three crew working on the eight locks per shift.
They will be running ships through the lock with no crew on site. There is a big concern about safety with no crew on site. Attached is a picture of the new HFM machines. They will run these machines from one central control center using TV cameras.