St. Lawrence Seaway

St. Lawrence Seaway




EXCERPT:
http://www.mindfully.org/Reform/2004/FEMA-Concentration-Camps3sep04.htm

MICHIGAN

Camp Grayling - Michigan Nat'l Guard base has several confirmed detention camps, classic setup with high fences, razor wire, etc. Guard towers are very well-built, sturdy. Multiple compounds within larger enclosures. Facility deep within forest area. Sawyer AFB - Upper Peninsula - south of Marquette - No data available. Bay City - Classic enclosure with guard towers, high fence, and close to shipping port on Saginaw Bay, which connects to Lake Huron. Could be a deportation point to overseas via St. Lawrence Seaway. Southwest - possibly Berrien County - FEMA detention center. Lansing - FEMA detention facility.



EXCERPT:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Lawrence_Seaway

The St. Lawrence Seaway is the common name for a system of canals that permits ocean-going vessels to travel from the Atlantic Ocean to the North American Great Lakes, as far as Lake Superior. Legally it extends from Montreal to Lake Erie, including the Welland Canal and the Great Lakes Waterway. The seaway is named after the Saint Lawrence River, which it follows from Lake Ontario to the Atlantic Ocean. This section of the seaway is not a continuous canal, but rather a number of locks and short channels made to bypass difficulties in the natural waterway.


EXCERPT:
http://www.marinehighways.org/index.php?page=services_solutions#great_lakes

GREAT LAKES

The Great Lakes has three services currently operating:
Detroit – Windsor (passengers, personal vehicles & trucks - hazmat): The Detroit-Windsor Truck Ferry operates between Michigan and Ontario, alleviating border congestion at the Ambassador and Blue Water Bridges which handle over 10,000 trucks per day. These points have been identified as the most congested border crossing between the United States and Canada. (Federal law restricts the transportation of hazardous materials from local bridges and tunnels. The ferry service is the only legal crossing for these materials at this cross-border area.)
For information and bookings, please email Tim Gagnier in Windsor at TimGagnier@truckferry.com or James Primus in Detroit at JPrimus@truckferry.com.

Ontario - Montreal (container): McKeil Marine offers this dedicated container-on-barge service from Hamilton Port Authority (through the St. Lawrence Seaway and Lake Ontario for transshipped cargo to and from India/Pakistan. The service consists of 68 containers that are brought there by Maersk and CMA CGM, stressing the importance of the link between the marine highways and international shipping.
For information and bookings, please contact Paulo Pessoa at (905) 528-4141, ext. 236



excerpt:
http://testimony.ost.dot.gov/test/pasttest/04test/Jacquez1.htm

STATEMENT BY ADMINISTRATOR ALBERT S. JACQUEZ

SAINT LAWRENCE SEAWAY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION



SUBCOMMITTEE ON WATER RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENT OF THE

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE



FEBRUARY 26, 2004


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The U.S. Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation (SLSDC or Corporation), a wholly owned government corporation and an operating administration of the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), is responsible for the operations and maintenance of the U.S. portion of the St. Lawrence Seaway between Montreal and Lake Erie. This responsibility includes maintaining and operating the two U.S. Seaway locks located in Massena, N.Y., and vessel traffic control in areas of the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario. In addition, the SLSDC performs trade development functions designed to enhance Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway System utilization.



Since its opening in 1959, the binational St. Lawrence Seaway has been a vital transportation corridor for the international movement of bulk commodities such as steel, iron ore, grain, and coal, serving a North American region that makes up one quarter of the U.S. population and nearly half of the Canadian population. The binational waterway serves as a deep draft waterborne link between major U.S. and Canadian agricultural, manufacturing, and industrial cities, including Chicago, Detroit, Toronto, Cleveland, Duluth, Toledo, Milwaukee, Montreal, and Green Bay, and European, South American, and North African markets.



The SLSDC coordinates its activities with its Canadian counterpart, The St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation (SLSMC), particularly with respect to rules and regulations, overall day-to-day operations, traffic management, navigation aids, safety, environmental programs, security, operating dates, and trade development programs. The unique binational nature of the Seaway System requires 24-hour, year-round coordination between the two Seaway entities.



The SLSDC’s principal performance goal is to provide a safe, secure, reliable, and efficient U.S. portion of the St. Lawrence Seaway to its commercial users. Since its opening in 1959, more than 2.3 billion metric tons of cargo has been transported through the combined sections of the St. Lawrence Seaway (Montreal-Lake Ontario and Welland Canal) with an estimated value of more than $400 billion.



The navigation season typically runs from late March to late December. During the 2003 navigation season, the availability of the U.S. sectors of the Seaway, including the two U.S. locks maintained and operated by the SLSDC, was 98.9 percent; the annual goal is 99 percent. Weather and vessel incidents were the causes for all delays in 2003. Of the remaining factors that cause lockage shutdowns, the one that the SLSDC has the most control over is the proper functioning of lock equipment. During the 2003 navigation season, there were no system delays due to malfunctioning lock equipment.

CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE AND NAVIGATION SECURITY MEASURES



The SLSDC has been proactive in implementing increased security measures following the events of September 11, 2001. Within days of the terrorist attacks, risk assessment inspections of all foreign flagged vessels were conducted in Montreal, prior to their entry into U.S. waters. This protocol was developed with the full cooperation of the Canadian SLSMC, as well as U.S. and Canadian law enforcement and Coast Guard personnel. The protocol was further refined in March 2002 when the risk assessment inspection was combined with the existing Enhanced Seaway Inspection (ESI) program. By combining the two inspections into a single process, foreign-flag vessels are not unnecessarily delayed for security screenings, unless the initial risk assessment compels an additional examination. During the 2003 navigation season, SLSDC inspectors completed 216 risk assessment inspections in Montreal.



Security procedures, both maritime and internal, were developed to ensure that security was enhanced while minimizing any impacts on the efficiency of Seaway operations. In late 2001, SLSDC inspection personnel logged substantially more staff hours in carrying out the risk assessment protocol than normally projected. However, when the protocol was refined in 2002 and merged with the existing ESI program, this impact was ameliorated.



Another major security milestone for the SLSDC was the expansion of the U.S. and Canadian Seaway mandatory Notice of Arrival requirement for all foreign commercial vessels. With the start of the 2002 navigation season, all foreign ships entering the St. Lawrence Seaway are required to give 96-hour advance notification of arrival in Montreal, Quebec. Ships failing to give complete notice are prohibited from entering the Seaway.



The notification requirement on the St. Lawrence Seaway is unique because it mandates 96 hours notice prior to arrival in Montreal, as opposed to all other U.S. waterways which require the notice prior to reaching the first U.S. port of call. This modified requirement was needed due to the geography of the key U.S. ports on the Great Lakes Seaway System, which are several hundred miles into U.S. waters and, in many cases, require transit of all 15 Seaway locks before reaching the port. The Seaway’s 96-hour notification requirement provides SLSDC officials, as well as law enforcement and intelligence agencies, even more advance notice (approximately

10 additional hours) to review vessel crew lists and manifests before the vessel enters U.S. waters. The SLSDC immediately sends the pre-entry information it receives to the USCG, which in turn submits the information to its National Vessel Movement Center for screening through various law enforcement databases.