The locks at Sault Ste. Marie will open for the 2017 shipping season on March 25, but action is still needed to address the unfinished plan for the Poe Lock, says the Lake Carriers’ Association (LCA).
Poe Lock is the largest lock situated on the St. Marys River between the twin cities of Sault Ste. Marie in Ontario and Michigan and allows ships to travel between Lake Superior and the lower Great Lakes.
The LCA estimates that the lock handles 80 million tons of cargo in a season, and advocates have long argued for the need for a new lock to handle the volume of traffic that travels through the system.
In 2015, the U.S. government approved a $1.35-million study to look at the issue. But the LCA called the analysis “flawed.”
“A second Poe-sized lock has been authorized at full federal expense, but a flawed analysis of the project’s benefit-cost ratio by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has stalled construction,” said the LCA in the release.
“The Corps has acknowledged the benefit-cost ratio must be re-examined and a report is due by year’s end. A U.S. Department of Treasury report issued last month estimates a second Poe-sized lock could have a benefit-cost ratio as high as 4.0, or nearly three times higher than the 0.73 estimated by the Corps.”
The Poe Lock measures 1,200 feet long and can accommodate large lake freighters, while its smaller counterpart, the MacArthur Lock, measures 800 feet long and is used primarily by smaller vessels and pleasure craft.
The concern is that, should the Poe Lock be damaged or otherwise be put out of commission, shipments could be delayed, resulting in a huge loss to the economy.
A preview of that scenario played out in August 2015 when a malfunction closed the MacArthur Lock for 20 days, causing an estimated $250,000 loss to U.S. ship operators.
The LCA made its comments on Feb. 28, which marks the start of the 2017 shipping season.
The association represents 13 American companies that operate 49 U.S.-flag vessels on the Great Lakes and carry raw materials such as iron ore and fluxstone for the steel industry, aggregate and cement for the construction industry, coal for power generation, as well as salt, sand and grain. Collectively, these vessels can transport more than 100 million tons of cargo per year.
