Gotty,
Thanks for the post. The "Seaway" closes for navigation on the 24th of Dec this year. That is all the locks of the Welland canal system (that by-passes Niagara Falls) between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, and the locks on the 'lower St Lawrence river". Once you are to Montreal, you are at sealevel.

As well, the seaway has a maximum draft of ~26.5', maximum length of 740', and a maximum beam of 78' - the locks are 750' x 80' - snug fit...  Vessels that run in the lakes are longer, wider and shallower than the ocean-going and have less 'freeboard' (waterline to deck distance) than the salties.

If you are interested in what moves on the lakes, where it was built and what it carries, follow this link  www.boatnerd.com , on the left-side toolbar go to photo galleries, and then go to the "fleet photo gallery". The fleet is listed by ownership and there is a history of each boat, what it is powered by, when it was scratched, who fixed it...  You will also see a bunch of 1000' x 105' x 34'deep vessels. They will run Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron and Erie. They cannot leave these lakes because they are too large to transit the Welland (Niagara Falls) system.

Often, salties like the one in the news reel will come into the seaway system and load as much as they can before 'bottoming out', transit the system, and then top-up at Montreal, Quebec City or Bai-Comeau to their maximum ocean draft. Quebec City has loaded PanaMax vessels to 55' - gotta pay attention to the tide though.

Good to see grain moving through the lakes. Back in the 70's when Europe and USSR were the big customers, 70% of Canadian grain left from the east coast, 30 west. Now with the Pacific Rim being the dominant demand, the split has reversed and our west coast ports are under incredible strain while the east coast (including the seaway) has under-utilized capacity.

Ken