Canal opening on schedule

Opening day for the Welland Canal is March 28th — that’s nine days from now. That time frame comes as a surprise to many as all of Lake Erie and much of Lake Ontario are still covered in ice.

Crews have been busy finishing up the paint job on the five ships what wintered over in Port Colborne. They’ll be moving on March 28th. Opening day on the Welland Canal.

But Lake Erie is covered in ice as far as you can see.

Mike Knock is a sailor: “You never know what’s going to happen. In ten days we could have nice weather and a lot of the ice will move. The wind could come in and blow a lot of the ice clear as well.”

That’s what the St. Lawrence Seaway was hoping for when it announced the Welland Canal will open on March 28th and the Montreal section will open three days later.

With the ships packed in ice, opening in nine days may seem too soon. But the shipping companies want to start moving cargo as soon as they can.”

Mike Knock has worked on the ships for more than three decades. He says he’s been trapped in ice a number of times: “I’ve seen it before. You get on the lake for four days waiting for the ice to break up or to bring the coast guard to clear a path.”

There are some reports the shipping companies say the ice breakers are too old to adequately break up the ice. but there is a lot of pressure on the seaway from companies to get the ships moving as soon as possible.

last year the welland canal opened six days earlier on march 22nd. and that day with the snow blowing and the temperatures plummeting it still felt like the middle of winter.

Despite the ice, the St. Lawrence Seaway Authority is confident that the Welland Canal will open on March 28th. And that really isn’t late because it used to be that the opening date for the Welland Canal was the first week of April.