Radio Messages
Seaway Radio Message #9 - 2008 Opening
Details on the maximum permissible drafts for both the Montreal-Lake Ontario Section and the Welland Canal are available in Seaway Notice no.1 of 2008.
MONTREAL-LAKE ONTARIO SECTION
The South Shore, Beauharnois and Wiley-Dondero canals are generally covered with broken ice. Lake St. Francis is covered with thick ice with a broken track in the navigation channel. Icebreaker escort is recommended between Cornwall Island and Grassy Island. Pointe Fortier anchorage is now usable. Icebreaker assistance is available.
Navigation may be restricted until the commissioning of lighted aids has been completed. Mariners are warned to exercise extreme caution in the use of winter markers as the position of the markers may have been affected by ice. Further information concerning this is available from the appropriate traffic control centre.
Due to the presence of ice, one way navigation is in effect in the South Shore, Beauharnois, and Wiley-Dondero canals except in areas designated by the traffic control centres. Further information concerning this is available from the appropriate traffic control centre.
It is extremely important, for vessels transiting through all ice covered areas and the ice booms in the Beauharnois Canal, to proceed at the slowest safe speed in order not to disturb the ice fields.
The Galop and Prescott-Ogdensburg ice booms A and G have been removed from the navigation channel.
WELLAND CANAL
The Welland Canal is open water with broken ice present in Port Colborne Harbour. Mariners are cautioned that, at present, thick to thin ice conditions exist in the eastern part of Lake Erie.
April 1, 2008