The 2012 navigation season on the St. Lawrence Seaway is less than three months old, but already our binational waterway is flexing its muscles with another increase in shipping volume. And to help the St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation manage this growth, as well as the Seaway's valuable assets, we are pleased to welcome two new members--David McMillan and Wenona Singel--to the Seaway Advisory Board.
Swearing in David McMillan
David McMillan is a Senior Vice President at ALLETE, a Duluth-based energy provider. Wenona Singel is a law professor at Michigan State University in East Lansing and Associate Director of the university's Indigenous Law and Policy Center.
They join a Seaway that is off to a terrific start in 2012. Between March 22 and May 31 the Seaway handled 8.9 million metric tons of freight. That's up 3.7 percent from the same period a year ago. As Rebecca Spruill of the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation said, “Seaway tonnage increases this year continue to nudge upward to 5 percent overall when compared to the same time frame last year. Double-digit figures were noted in coal and iron ore, and general cargo is up almost 7 percent.”
Wenona Singel and family with Deputy Secretary John Porcari (far left) and
Seaway Acting Administrator Craig Middlebrook (far right)
This increase in activity is great news for the miners, farmers, and manufacturers of the Seaway region, and it builds on the 2.7 percent annual growth the Seaway achieved in 2011.
My heartfelt congratulations to the Seaway community for its strong start and to David McMillan and Wenona Singel as they join the waterway's Advisory Board.
Maersk Illinois traverses the Great Lakes Seaway System
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