SASKATOON – Within a few weeks, a coalition of seaway users expects to announce a deal with the federal government to transfer operation of the Canadian portion of the eastern waterway to private hands.
It will mean the dissolution of the 42-year-old St. Lawrence Seaway Authority crown corporation and transfer of its operating authority to a private not-for-profit corporation run by users, including grain shippers.
A spokesperson for the group said last week he expects the transfer to take place Jan. 1, 1997.
“The negotiations are on track and I think we will be able to announce something by mid-July,” Al Donaldson, chair of Canadian Shipbuilding and Engineering Ltd. of Toronto and St. Catharines, said June 27.
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He said the group’s goals will be to take control of seaway operations in order to keep costs down for users and to keep the seaway operating. The federal government will continue to own the seaway assets.
“I don’t think there will be a toll reduction,” said Donaldson. “Our hope would be that we could hold the line or keep increases to a minimum.”
Canada operates 13 of the 15 locks in the seaway. The American government operates the other two.
The nine-member private sector group assembled to bid for the “commercialization” of the seaway includes shipowners and transportation companies, steel companies and three grain companies – Cargill Ltd., James Richardson and Sons Ltd. and Louis Dreyfus Ltd., which operates transfer elevators on the waterway.
Employees part of package
If the transfer takes place, the new company will inherit the 700 employees who now work for the seaway authority.
In the short term, their contracts and jobs will be protected.
However, Donaldson said he expects the number of employees to decline in the future.
He also said businesses which depend on the seaway to move goods, including grain farmers from the eastern Prairies, may not notice the management changes.
“Users will be in charge and hopefully that will mean cost controls in future but I don’t think there will be any difference for the individual shipper,” he said.
As part of the negotiation, the new group is promising to set aside some of the toll revenues for equipment and facility upgrading. The federal government will commit itself to throwing money into the pot as well when repairs or upgrading are needed.
