The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) reviewed the efforts to modernize the Great Lakes-Seaway. In this report it examines three parametres: shipping trends since 1980 and factors affecting recent trends; stakeholder views on challenges to use; the extent to which the Army Corps and the U.S. Seaway Corporation have made progress on and measure performance of lock renewal efforts.
GAO analyzed Seaway and Army Corps shipping data from 1980 through 2016, the agencies’ asset renewal plans, and interviewed 24 stakeholders, including port and shipper representatives, selected to represent a range of perspectives.
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What it found is that the tons of cargo moved by domestic Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway traffic have declined since 1980—by 32 and 48%, respectively, according to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Army Corps) and Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation (U.S. Seaway Corporation) data. There are various factors for this reduction such as the U.S. economy’s shift away from manufacturing.
In addition, traffic on the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway (Great Lakes-Seaway) is traditionally dominated by bulk commodities like iron ore, although stakeholders noted emerging uses like containerized cargo and cruises.
What is more, the report found a number of challenges to using the Great LakesSeaway – such as inadequate portside infrastructure for intermodal transfers of shipping containers – that they pose risks for both traditional bulk cargos and emerging uses.
Despite the fact that the U.S. Seaway Corporation’s mission is to improve the system’s utilization and reliability, the Corporation has not fully assessed the risks that challenges pose to the system’s users. Establishing a process to assess and monitor risks, according to federal internal control standards, would help inform future actions to address identified and emerging challenges.
The U.S. Seaway Corporation and the Army Corps have also made progress on lock asset renewal efforts, but the Army Corps lacks goals and measures to assess performance and outcomes of these efforts. Namely, the Army Corps has completed 18 projects totaling about $53 million to date, and has about $257 million in remaining and ongoing work through 2035.
In the meantime, the U.S. Seaway Corporation has completed 16 projects totaling $45 million and has almost $144 million in remaining and ongoing work through 2023. The Army Corps has not developed goals and measures to assess its asset renewal results, as the U.S. Seaway Corporation has done. Thus, the Army Corps does not have tools to assess the results of these efforts and demonstrate the extent to which its asset renewal efforts have improved operational performance of the Soo Locks.
To improve these issues, GAO recommended two measures:
- The U.S. Seaway Corporation to establish a process to identify, analyze, and monitor risks to the system’s use to inform future actions;
- The Army Corps to develop and adopt goals and measures to assess the performance of the Soo Locks and assess of asset renewal outcomes.
See more information in the PDF herebelow
