With or without Seaway: Lake Erie Biofuels, others planning alternatives for ‘08 season in case of strike
October 06, 08 by TheFleet
Jim Carroll | Source: GoErie.com
The Port of Erie might soon lose its water route to the Atlantic Ocean.
Canadian lock workers are threatening a strike that could shut down the St. Lawrence Seaway, the inland waterway that connects the Great Lakes to the Atlantic.
“It could affect us a bit,” said Tod Eagleton, dock operations supervisor for Erie Sand & Gravel, which serves as the stevedore for the Port of Erie.
Most affected could be Erie’s biodiesel producer.
… Lake Erie Biofuels hopes to send at least two more shipments of its biodiesel fuel to Europe before the Great Lakes shipping season ends in December. A strike on the St. Lawrence Seaway would complicate that.
Peterson said a shutdown of the St. Lawrence Seaway would not halt the company’s overseas shipments, but it would change how it gets there and what they’d have to charge.
… the company expects to ship its biodiesel to Europe in tankers filled with anywhere from 1.5 million gallons to 3 million gallons.
… Of the 34 vessels that have arrived in Erie this season, seven have been international ships, Eagleton said.
Those consisted of six tankers and one cargo ship delivering 775 tons of equipment bound for a mill in New Castle.
Limestone is the biggest volume cargo that comes into Erie, and Ray Schreckengost, executive director of the Erie-Western Pennsylvania Port Authority, said a shutdown of the Seaway would not impact that type of Great Lakes cargo.
Salt shipments from upstate New York might be affected, but salt has already been stockpiled at the local docks, he said.
Other companies affected, alternative routes and comments on Erie Terminal at GoErie.com >>
