Great Lakes shipping stalls amidst cold snap

The extreme cold has delayed shipping on the Great Lakes. With an update from Goderich, here's CTV London’s Scott Miller.

It’s been a couple days since a pair of ships have left or entered Goderich’s harbour. Shipping is largely at a standstill across most of the Great Lakes, thanks to a rapid increase in ice cover.

“This cold snap that we’re enduring here in southwestern Ontario now has really got things jammed up with regards to commercial shipping throughout the Great Lakes,” said Frank Hurkmans, Ppresident of the Goderich Port Management Corporation.

As of Wednesday, about 25 per cent of the Great Lakes are covered in ice. But just four days ago, that number was at 10 per cent.

The recent frigid temperatures have created a lot of ice in a short amount of time. Most of that ice has been moved to the shores and harbours by the high winds. Couple that with a mechanical issue with Goderich’s tugboat, and you’ve got a recipe for a temporary shutdown to shipping in and out of Goderich. But there is help on the way, said Hurkmans.

“I would say that the icebreaker will start work in the inner harbor shortly and allow the vessels that are tied up at some of the berths to get into the salt mine to load. Two things need to happen. We need a bit of a break in this cold, and we need a bit of a shift in the wind to help support moving the ice back out into the lake. Because when Mother Nature puts that wind in there, plus some cold temperatures, it locks things up like a freezer pretty quick,” said Hurkmans.

Winter shipping on the Great Lakes historically does run into ice issues around this time of year, but a steady drop in ice cover, from 90 per cent coverage in 2014 to 23 per cen in 2023, and as little as 4 per cent last year, makes this cold snap seem outside of the recent trend.

“So, if you think about progressively how that number has continued to drop, that makes this event that we’re going through right now almost seem like a recent anomaly,” said Hurkmans.

With an expected visit by a Coast Guard icebreaker as early as tomorrow, Goderich’s harbour should be back up and running shortly, even as the ice cover grows.

“It’s affected the schedule for sure. But when people come into winter shipping, it’s just part of the analysis,” said Hurkmans.