St. Lawrence Seaway

Act: Canada Marine Act 1998, c.10
Regulation: Seaway Practices and Procedures and Seaway Property Regulations, and various regulations

To Whom Does This Apply?

Seaway Practices and Procedures
The owners or operators of all ships traveling on the St. Lawrence Seaway.  

Seaway Property Regulations
Anyone accessing Seaway properties.

St. Lawrence Seaway Wharfage and Storage Charges Tariff
Anyone wanting to store goods moving along the St. Lawrence Seaway.

Summary

The Framework Agreement, entered into pursuant to Section 80 of the Canada Marine Act,  between Her Majesty The Queen In Right of Canada and The St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation, allows The St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation (SLSMC), a not-for-profit corporation incorporated under Part II of the Canada Corporations Act, to manage, operate and maintain the deep waterway between the Port of Montreal and the Great Lakes. The waterway was constructed and is maintained pursuant to the Agreement dated 19 March 1941 between Canada and the United States providing for the development of navigation and power in the Great Lakes - St. Lawrence Basin, including the locks, canals and facilities between the Port of Montreal and Lake Erie and generally known as the St. Lawrence Seaway.

The Seaway Practices and Procedures prescribe how navigation is to be carried out from the Port of Montreal to Lake Erie in order to ensure orderly and safe transits by ships. The Canadian and American entities draft these rules in close collaboration. The joint rules called Practices and Procedures in Canada and Seaway Regulations in the United States are always enacted in both Canada and the United States, because the Seaway lies within the waters of both countries. They govern, among others, the following:

• the condition of ships;
• speed limits;
• pre-clearance and security of tolls;
• seaway navigation;
• radio communications;
• dangerous cargo;
• toll assessment and payment;
• information and reports; and
• detention and sale.

The Seaway Property Regulations
The regulations deal with the operations, safety and order of the seaway, and replace the Shore Traffic Regulations. More specifically, they address access to seaway property, operation of vehicles, fire protection, emergencies, and other precautionary measures. In addition, they permit the SLSMC to remedy pollution or environmental incidents at the risk and expense of the polluter, and prohibit activities that jeopardize public safety or adversely affect soil, air and water quality.

The St. Lawrence Seaway Wharfage and Storage Charges Tariff sets out the tariff of charges on goods or cargo landed, shipped, transshipped or stored. For more information on these various tariffs, please consult the contact listed below.

DISCLAIMER
Information contained in this section is of a general nature only and is not intended to constitute advice for any specific fact situation. For particular questions, the users are invited to contact their lawyer. For additional information, see contact(s) listed below.

New Brunswick Contact(s):
See National Contact.

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National Contact(s):
The St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation
202 Pitt Street
Cornwall, Ontario  K6J 3P7
Telephone: (613) 932-5170 ext. 3626
Fax: (613) 932-7286
E-mail: marketing@seaway.ca