The City of St. Catharines announced Wednesday that it has shut down the Welland Canal in solidarity with the Strait of Hormuz. The city called the move “a proportionate municipal response to an international shipping situation.”
The closure took effect at 9 a.m. Two lake freighters passed through Lock 3 during the announcement. A third was waiting at Port Weller by the time questions began.
City officials say that is consistent with the closure.
“We’ve been very clear-eyed about this from the beginning,” said Renata Holub, the city’s newly appointed director of intergovernmental and waterway relations.
“The canal belongs to the federal government and is operated by the Seaway. A city can’t close a federal waterway. What a city can close is its relationship with the waterway.”
In practice, the closure covers four things: the viewing platform at the Welland Canals Centre, the adjacent parking lot, a section of the Welland Canals Parkway trail, and the board listing estimated ship arrival times. Shortly before 9 a.m., the board was covered with a blue tarp.
The museum gift shop remains open, as it does not directly face the water.
‘Waterways don’t pick sides’
Commercial traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow channel between Iran and Oman that once carried about a fifth of the world’s oil, has been sharply curtailed since the war with Iran began in late February. Oil has spent much of the summer around US$90 a barrel.
Holub said residents began asking over the summer what St. Catharines was doing about it.
“People were at the pumps on Glendale Avenue asking that question, and the honest answer was nothing,” she said. “That’s not an answer you want to give in September.”
She stressed that the gesture does not express solidarity with any government, navy or party to the conflict.
“We are in solidarity with the strait itself,” she said. “Waterways don’t pick sides. We think a body of water that is having a very difficult year deserves to know that other bodies of water are thinking about it.”
Holub noted that all four versions of the Welland Canal have run through St. Catharines, beginning in 1829.
“The strait is older, obviously,” she said. “But it’s never had to be rebuilt three times. We think that gives us a certain perspective.”
Industry ‘aware’
The shipping industry reports that it has been largely unaffected.
“We’ve had four vessels through Lock 3 since the announcement,” said Greg Pellerin of the Niagara Marine Operators Association. “Nobody on board was informed of anything, because the only people who would normally be standing there to wave at them were asked to leave.”
Pellerin said several captains noticed the empty platform. “One of them radioed ahead to ask if it was a holiday.”
In a brief email, the Seaway said the canal is open and navigation is proceeding normally for the season.
Walt Dembski, 74, has watched ships from the Lock 3 platform nearly every day since 2004. On Wednesday he moved his lawn chair to the grass on the opposite bank. A city spokesperson later confirmed that the grass is also under review.
“They put a tarp over the board,” Dembski said. “I don’t need the board. That’s a laker out of Thunder Bay with grain, and she’ll be in the lock by 11:40. You can’t tarp that.”
The ship entered the lock at 11:38.
A working group
Next week, council will be asked to formally establish a Strait of Hormuz Solidarity Working Group. Its members would be two councillors, a museum curator, a Port Dalhousie business owner and a member of the public with “lived experience of shipping.”
A staff report circulated ahead of the meeting shows the group has already considered expanding the gesture. Twelve Mile Creek remains under review. Martindale Pond, home of the Royal Canadian Henley Regatta, was ruled out after staff determined that a reservoir “does not meet the definition of a strait, and is unlikely to be perceived as one internationally.”
The report also considered imposing a toll on vessels transiting the canal, to more closely mirror conditions in the Gulf. The idea was dropped after staff learned the Seaway already charges one.
No end date
Holub described the closure as temporary but declined to give an end date.
According to the staff report, the platform will reopen once the strait’s status “can be confirmed by at least two sources that agree with each other.” Staff acknowledged this could take some time.
If that doesn’t happen first, the closure will end with the navigation season in late December, when the Seaway shuts the canal for winter maintenance. City officials said they intend to count that closure toward the total.
A few kilometres up the canal, the Lock 7 Viewing Complex in Thorold reported its busiest Wednesday since the Labour Day long weekend. Staff there said they have not been contacted about joining the solidarity measure. They have moved their ship schedule board closer to the road.
