CLEVELAND — Those visiting Downtown Cleveland this summer got used to the sight of cruise ships docked at the Port of Cleveland next to Browns Stadium. These days, though it's a spot occupied by the U.S. Navy's newest combat ship, the U.S.S. Marinette.
The just commissioned ship was built in Wisconsin and was on its way to the Atlantic and its new home port in Florida. It got stuck in Cleveland when Canadian workers went out on strike Sunday, shutting down the only route to the Atlantic, the St. Lawrence Seaway.
The Seaway consists of 15 locks between Lake Erie and Montreal, starting with the Welland Canal outside Buffalo. A marine traffic map showed the number of ships waiting Friday afternoon on both sides to get through.
"A situation like this where commerce stops is extremely frustrating and concerning not only in the short term but potentially the long term," said Dave Gutheil, Port of Cleveland's chief commercial officer.
That's why the Port of Cleveland urged the Biden Administration to assist in bringing this strike to a close, calling it a matter of "grave concern." Talks continued between the two sides in Toronto on Friday. On Wednesday, Senator Sherrod Brown echoed the Port's call for the administration to help settle the strike, and so too did JD Vance.
"Agricultural products are one of the biggest exports, one of the most important parts of the economy in the state of Ohio," said Vance. "We can't get that stuff to market unless you solve this problem in Canada."
Not only is 40% of all trade in the Seaway agricultural, but the strike comes at harvest time when the storage areas for crops waiting for export are at a premium. That's especially true this year, with Ohio looking at a record harvest in spots.
"Those corn and soybeans need a place to go and when the farmer takes it to the local elevator," said Ty Higgins of the Ohio Farm Bureau. "If that elevator can't make room for that corn or soybeans on down the line, then we're going to have some issues."
It creates a backlog. That's the concern of the Westlake-based Lake Carriers Association as well. Since 1880, they've represented the U.S. flag Great Lakes fleet, 43 commercial cargo vessels in all. Their ships travel mainly between the upper four Great Lakes and don't use the seaway, but they will likely be impacted once the strike ends because of the growing logjam of vessels waiting.
"Because typically things would flow, would spread out throughout the year, and because this has caused a logjam in one area, it's gonna cause a logjam up at the Soo Lock because we only have one Soo Lock," said Lake Carriers Association Vice President Eric Peace. "So everybody is going to be competing for that one lock. That's going to slow everything down again."
