USCG and the Canadian Coast Guard renewed their Memorandum of Understanding between their agencies concerning Coast Guard icebreaking services in the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway maritime transportation system, on January 18.
The new agreement improves the mutual commitment for ensuring important icebreaking operations in the Great Lakes region including the main connecting navigable waterways, Georgian Bay and the St. Lawrence River from Tibbetts Point, New York, to as far east as Cornwall, Ontario.
“Our updated Memorandum of Understanding allows us to better share information, equipment and personnel between countries. By working together we ensure scheduled vessel traffic can move through the shipping channels and into and out of community harbours,” Julie Gascon, Assistant Commissioner of the Canadian Coast Guard’s Central and Arctic Region noted.
According to the updated MOU, it authorizes the exchange of personnel on Coast Guard icebreakers. These exchanges aim to enhance familiarity with each other’s procedures when cooperating in shared waters, often on joint missions.
The cooperation between the countries has been showcased in the past, when CCGS Griffon crewmembers cleared shipping routes to Erie, Pennsylvania, and to Conneaut and Toledo, Ohio this month.
In another example, USCGC Alder crewmembers worked on icebreaking in Thunder Bay, Ontario and USCGC Morro Bay crewmembers helped ships to Port Colborne and Nanticoke, Ontario.
