SOURCE: St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corp. Lock Operations Records
Since opening in 1959, the St. Lawrence Seaway has enjoyed a high reliability rate in serving its
commercial customers. The SLSDC maintains an annual reliability performance target of 99% for the U.S.
sector of the Seaway, including the two U.S. locks in Massena, NY. During the 2006 navigation season, the
SLSDC met its target with a reliability rate of 99.1%.
Of those delay elements that affect system availability, the SLSDC is most responsible for lock equipment
malfunction. In 2006, lock equipment-related delays totaled 2.5 hours, representing four one-hundredths of
1% of the entire navigation season.