What Do Ships Carry Through the Canal?
Over 80 percent of Canal traffic is made up of bulk cargos like grain, iron and nickel ore, coal, cement, chemicals and oil. Manufactured goods of all kinds pass in and out of the Great Lakes on international container ships. The Provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan supply most of the Canadian grain exports. Wheat, barley, corn, flaxseed, oats, and rye are shipped from the Port of Thunder Bay at the western end of Lake Superior. Lakers taking grain to ports on the Lower St. Lawrence River often load a ‘backhaul’ shipment of Quebec iron ore for Canadian and American steel mills. Lakers also carry nickel ore and other precious metals from mines near Sudbury to the International Nickel Company (INCO) Refinery in Port Colborne.
