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3. Marine News - c o n t 'd . The Welland Ship Canal opened for the 1993 season of navi g a t i o n on Tuesday, March 30th, with the upbound passage of the designated first vessel, Algoma Central's straight-decker CAPT. H ENRY JACKMAN. Opening ceremonies were held at Lock Three as usual. The JACKMAN w i n t e r e d at the port of Hamilton. The St. Lawrence canals also opened on the 30th, and for the first time, the Seaway A u thority has given an early indication of how long the lower canals will operate this year. All vessels seeking passage through the Seaway must have reported for passage by midnight, December 20th. Unfortunately, while 1993 promises to be a fairly good year for the ore trade, p a r t i cularly on the U . S. side of the lakes, and some other bulk trades are promising as well, things do not look good for the movement of Canadian grain. As will be recalled, the Canadian grain trade deteriorated badly during the summer of 1992 as a result of the Canadian government i m posing line-of-credit restrictions on Russia and other former members of the Soviet Union. The 1992 grain season got off to a good start in the spring, before the troubles developed, but not even that is expected for 1993. Not only was the 1992 prairie grain crop a virtual failure in many areas, but as well the Russian political and economic climate is such that grain shipments via the lakes and Seaway will be far below normal. In addition, the Canadian Wheat Board continues to increase the use of west coast ports for the s h i p ment of export grain, par t i c u l a r l y the large quantities now being sold to Asian nations. As a consequence, many of the Canadian straight-deck lakers, which in recent years have been used p r i marily in the grain trade, will not fit out this spring, and some of them may see no service at all unless things change considerably for the better as the season progresses. An unusual winter movement of ore kept the American Steamship Company's self-unloader A M E R I C A N REPUBLIC busy during the latter part of February. A M E R I C A N REPUBLIC had been laid up at Toledo for the winter, but she was fitted out in order to carry several cargoes of pellets from the Pinney Dock at Ashtabula, Ohio, to the plant of the McLo u t h Steel Products Comp a n y at Trenton, Michigan. The mot o r s h i p loaded the first of these cargoes on February 18th. The peculiar winter movement of pellets was a consequence of McLouth Steel running short in its winter supply of ore. The particular p e l lets involved in the movement had o riginally been destined for the Sharon Steel Corp., but that firm r e portedly went into b a nkruptcy during November of 1992. Canada's two m ajor freight railways have become embroiled in a dispute over the intent of C a n adian National to twin its rail tunnel under the St. Clair River between Sarnia and Port Huron. Early in March, CN announced the a w a r d ing of a $50 m i l l i o n contract to a c o nsortium of four companies to begin construction of a second Sarnia tunnel. The entire project, e s t imated to cost $200 million, would see the second tunnel capable of handling d o u b l e stacked container cars, and CN would then be able to discontinue its c a r ferry service across the river. CP RAIL has filed a complaint with the U . S. Interstate Commerce Commission, asking that the CN project be reviewed on the grounds that as CP does not have rail access to Port Huron, CP e f f e c t i v e l y w ould be "shut out" of the new tunnel, thus giving CN a competitive advantage over CP. The two railways jointly own the rail tunnel under the Detroit River betw e e n Windsor and Detroit, and CP itself has begun upg r a d i n g that facility, but the rebuilding would still not make that tunnel capable of h a n d l i n g the d o u b l e - s t a c k e d containers. CP Rail has stated, a c c ording to press reports, that it would prefer to see the lines co-operate on enlarging the Detroit River tunnel rather that having CN proceed with its own second tunnel at Sarnia. In addition, the City of Detroit is objecting on account of the fact that the addition of the second tunnel between Sarnia and Port Huron will divert considerable rail traffic away from the Detroit area. The I. C . C. has said that it could take up to a year to resolve the dispute, where as CN had hoped to have its new Sarnia tunnel completed by late in 1994.