MASSENA - Shipping goods across the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence
Seaway has a significant fuel-economy advantage and produces
less greenhouse gas than other major modes of transportation,
according to a recent comparative environmental impact study.
Based on 2010 performances, the study conducted by the Research
and Traffic Group, a Canadian transportation consulting firm
found that marine vessels were able to carry cargo significantly
farther than both rail and trucks using the same amount of fuel.
The study, which was released Tuesday, found that the U.S. and
Canadian Great Lakes-Seaway fleet that year was 594 percent more
fuel efficient than transportation via truck and 14 percent more
efficient than rail. Currently, the largest vessels on the Great
Lakes typically 1,000 feet in length can carry 62,000 tons of
cargo, consultants said, which would take 2,340 trucks or 564
rail cars to carry the same load. Without the 2,300-mile Great
Lakes-Seaway shipping system to move cargo, 7.1 million
additional truck trips