In 2009, the U. S. Army Corp of Engineers released a report entitled: “Great Lakes Navigation Systems: Economic Strength to the Nation" outlining how valuable the Great Lakes Navigation Systems is to the Nation’s transportation system.

The Great Lakes Navigation System (GLNS) is a complex deepwater navigation system stretching 1,600 miles through all five Great Lakes and connecting channels from Duluth, Minnesota to Ogdensburg, New York. It is a non-linear system of interdependent locks, ports, harbors, navigational channels, dredged material disposal facilities and navigation structures. Maintaining Great Lakes navigation infrastructure as a viable, functional system is essential to preserving the health and vitality of the region and the nation in an environmentally sustainable manner.

The GLNS is a vital component of America’s transportation system. It contains 25 of the nation’s top 100 harbors by tonnage. The 63 large and smaller federal commercial ports on the Great Lakes are linked in trade with each other, with Canadian ports, and with ports throughout the rest of the world. Unlike ports along the eastern and western U.S. coasts that compete against each other for trade business, the GLNS is unique in that its ports do not compete with each other. Great Lakes ports are part of an overall system that competes against other modes of transportation that are less economically viable and far less environmentally sustainable.

*Source: Lake Carriers' Association

The GLNS plays a key role in preserving the nation’s fuel. The fuel economy of maritime transportation is significantly higher than any form of ground transportation. For example, a Great Lakes carrier travels 607 miles on one gallon of fuel per ton of cargo. In contrast, a truck travels a mere 59 miles on one gallon of fuel per ton of cargo and a freight train travels only 202 miles on one gallon of fuel per ton of cargo. In one delivery, a 1,000-foot Great Lakes carrier supplies 70,000 tons of cargo. It would take nearly 3,000 semi-truckloads to haul the same load.

The trucking mode of transportation not only is much less fuel efficient, it creates significant wear-and-tear on the nation’s highway infrastructure and increases congestion on already clogged roadway arteries.

The amount of carbon dioxide emissions is also significantly lower in maritime transportation
as compared to ground transportation, as shown in Figure 1. A cargo of 1,000 tons transported by a Great Lakes carrier produces 90 percent less carbon dioxide as compared to the same cargo transported by truck and 70 percent less than the same cargo transported by rail. The GLNS offers a fuel-efficient, low carbon producing, and low-cost option of transportation for millions of tons of bulk material that are vital to this country’s industrial strength.