Great Lakes shipping season launches with Goderich ‘top hat’

Goderich's annual top hat ceremony was held as the town kicks off the start of shipping season across the Great Lakes.

Captain Abhijit Menon is usually too late for Goderich’s “top hat” ceremony. But this year, he made it to Goderich’s port before everyone else.

“My first entry into the Great Lakes is usually at the end of April, and by that time, some ship has already come and gone. So, I have never had the opportunity of having the top hat, having this interview and stuff like that. But this is amazing,” said Captain Menon, smiling ear to ear.

The Federal Asahi is first ship into the Goderich port, kicking off the 2025 shipping season. It’s picking up 23 thousand metric tonnes of corn and taking it to Ireland. It’ll take eight days to get there but is still the most efficient way to move products like grain and corn from North America overseas.

“It signifies the first vessel coming in, of hopefully close to 200, out of the port of Goderich, which resonates to about four million tonnes of cargo, combined inbound and outbound,” said Hurkmans.

While most of those 200 ships are picking up salt from Goderich’s salt mine, about 30 each year fill up with tonnes of Ontario corn and grain and take that product all over the world.

“I believe this year the ice kind of melted faster. So the St. Lawrence Seaway locks opened up on the 22nd of March, and we were lucky enough to be in Three Rivers at that time. So we turned around and came up to pick up the first yield,” said Menon, who hails from India.

Goderich is eager to see more ships like the Federal Asahi come to their port. They are currently lobbying for 11 acres of Lake Huron to be infilled to create more docks and space for products to be shipped from and to Huron County from around the globe.

However, today is about Menon and the 94th top hat ceremony that’s been a tradition in Goderich since 1932.

“It really kicks off our season. Everybody’s excited to have this event take place, because we know that the momentum in regards to activity at the Port of Goderich from here on in through the end of the year is really starting to ramp up,” said Goderich Port Management President Frank Hurkmans.

“It’s a huge deal for us. And we’re hoping that we can make it even bigger with a possible expansion here in the future,” said Goderich Mayor Trevor Bazinet.