The St. Lawrence Seaway saw its highest cargo numbers since 2007 last year, propelled by a spike in grain shipments and global tariff wars that worked in Canada’s favour, reports theMontreal Gazette.
Traffic hit 40.9 million tonnes in 2018, a s7% year-over-year increase, according to the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp.
Grain made up nearly one-third of all tonnage on the 60-year-old waterway, rising 20% from 2017.
The towering grain figures come in spite of a major backlog in grain shipments last winter, which Canada’s two main railways responded to with more grain cars, employees, tracks and rail yard expansions.