The downturn in the economy is resulting in a slowdown in the Great Lakes Shipping Industry.
This years shipping season has been under way for more than a month and half and still one Seaway Marine lake freighter remains tied up in Owen Sound because of a lack of cargo.
Its the same situation with other lake carriers and the President of Canada Steamship Lines Garry Carter tells Bayshore Broadcasting News they have been hit hard with the closure of US Steel’s Hamilton and Lake Erie Facilities.
He says however while the industry is going through a very rough time, they are not dead in the water.
Carter says a recently released environmental audit of the shipping industry shows, that despite using technology that is on average 35 years old, they have made great strikes in reducing their environmental footprint.
However he admits there is only so much you can do with engines and technology that old and this is the time for the industry to begin rebuilding and begin using more modern ships that will be even more environmentally friendly.
Carter says however, there is a major road block to rebuilding the Great Lakes Shipping fleet and that is the Federal Government 25 per cent import duty on vessels constructed offshore.
He says there is no shipbuilding industry in Canada, and if they want modern ships that will project the environment, then the have to buy ships in places like China.
Carter says that federal import duty is a major roadblock to modernizing the fleet as it adds more than 12 million dollars to the cost of a 50 million dollar vessel.