Shipping on the St. Lawrence Seaway may be up overall this year, but the Windsor Port Authority anticipates a 13% drop in total traffic by the end of the shipping season.
CEO David Cree blames a 45% drop in aggregates from a record setting year in 2013. "We had anticipated a stronger year for stone shipments but because of some delays in construction of the (Rt. Hon. Herb Gray) parkway, some of that product has been kicked over to 2015."
He says shipments were still at about the ten-year average. Shipments out of the Windsor Salt Mine were up 26% at the end of October. Grain exports are up 10%, and general cargo jumped 50%.
Cree also says 2014 saw a resurgence in cruise ship traffic. While seven cruise ships docked in Windsor this year, he anticipates a dozen next year.