When when compared with other major river navigation routes around the world, the St. Lawrence River is a favoured waterway.
It flows in the mouth of Lake Ontario, in an altitude of 250 metres. From the source towards the Gulf, the river travels 1,197 kilometres, and is fed by several tributaries including the Ottawa, Richelieu, Saint-Francois and Saguenay rivers.
But the effects of global warming are being felt. The marine market is adapting. It is currently embarking on a shift towards smart technologies in view of this energy transition toward decarbonization.
In this short article we will see how the maritime and port industries are integrating climate change to their business models and introducing different adaptive measures.
A professor emeritus of geography at the Université de Montréal, I am an academic advisor in the Montréal Port Authority. I've been interested in maritime transportation issues for 30 years.
Intelligent communication
Commercial marine navigation on the St. Lawrence is impacted by several conditions: variations in water levels associated with seasonal cyclical changes, uneven precipitation, ice movement around the river surface, temperature variations and alterations in tributary inflow along with other anthropogenic factors.
In this technique, the transition zone between salt and freshwater starts east of ^Ile d’Orléans. Water having a higher salt concentration has a higher density than freshwater, and ships sink deeper.
This implies that the navigation routes should be maintained and designed with fixed and floating aids (lighthouses, range lights, buoys, etc.) The Canadian Hydrographic Service monitors tides and water levels, produces charts and collects data to build up programs for safe and sustainable utilisation of the waterway.
Navigation support includes a telecommunications system between ships and also the banks from the river. Because the St. Lawrence is particularly hard to navigate, the services of river pilots is essential to guarantee the security and safety of vessels from around the globe. Available to winter ocean navigation, the Coast Guard maintains a fleet of icebreakers to help keep ships moving.
The impacts of climate change
The scientific literature confirms that maritime transport, port systems and offer chains suffer from the combined action of climate change as well as other types of human intervention.
Climate change is usually evident in higher air temperatures that affect water levels, precipitation, ice conditions and storms. These may boost the vulnerability of the St. Lawrence river-sea transportation chain along with the cost of Québec's participation in international trade.
Here's the way the maritime and port industry is responding and adjusting to these new circumstances.
1) Extreme temperatures
Extreme hot temperatures result in a slowdown in labour productivity along with a reduction in outdoor working hours. This results in longer docked ship hours, consequent delays in operations and much more ships on standby.
In addition, high temperatures have an impact on port facilities. Machinery is more likely to break down there are higher energy costs for ventilation and air conditioning.
Rising temperatures can also increase the vulnerability of marine environments to storms and wave levels. Storms have a direct effect on the scheduling of navigation routes around the St. Lawrence.
Solutions: Some innovations are using intelligent navigation to reduce the vulnerability of business shipping to extreme variations in temperature (extreme cold and heat), fluctuating water levels (low water and flooding), and changes in wind strength and direction.
Intelligent navigation is dependant on interconnectivity between information systems. Navigation assistance (digitization from the seabed, augmented and mixed reality for piloting and physical repairs on the ocean) makes it possible to limit the risk of incidents and accidents on the river or perhaps in the shipping channel.
To make sure the safe mooring of ships at berth during high winds or extreme weather, port authorities are strengthening mooring bollards to prevent breakage. In addition, St. Lawrence ports have adopted delay forecasting plans for docking and unloading cargo to limit wait times at the port during tornados conditions.
2) Water fluctuation
Considering that the St. Lawrence system allows access to large ships, water levels pose a greater problem than elsewhere.
However, climate change is exacerbating access problems out of all river ports. Changes in water depth not just affect their capacity, but additionally their reliability, a vital element in shipping traffic development.
Global warming heralds shorter, warmer winters, with increased mild weather and rainy spells. Heavy rainfall can increase shifting sediment and may lead to dredging and upkeep of access channels.
This could cause severe flooding of wharfs and port handling areas due to coastal overflows and surface rainwater drainage problems. Extensive flooding could also damage surveillance equipment and compromise port security.
Solutions: During instances of low water levels, port authorities boost the safety of vessels operating on the river system by installing both digital and physical signage indicating the place of current phenomena and shoals.
During intense and extreme rainfall, ports undertake the upgrading of quays and infrastructure. Sediments removed during maintenance dredging may be used to stabilize infrastructure subject to increased erosion or to provide environmental services.
3) Variable ice formation
Freezing is a phenomenon that partly protects the coastline in the winter months. As the ice dwindles, there will be a possible rise in coastal contact with strong waves and at the same time frame, increased shoreline erosion.
Climate change will lead to greater variability in average ice thicknesses and, most importantly, to a breakdown of ice cover around the St. Lawrence River. In a number of St. Lawrence ports, this fragmenting could accelerate as ships manoeuver in and out of harbour.
These multiple ice breakages raise serious maritime safety issues, enhancing the chance of collision with ships which are forced to slow down.
Solutions: To combat erratic ice formation, the creation of a monitoring service for ice conditions in the river's waters is really a priority measure that is being systematized or strengthened. It offers ships with an accurate navigation tool. Buying of tugs designed with icebreakers operating 24/7 may prevent the buildup of ice near ports and waterways, thereby enhancing the safety of commercial vessels.
Energy transition
Reducing the carbon footprint from the maritime port economy is at the heart from the fight against climate change. Maritime carriers and ports deal with different techniques for managing the energy transition.
Canadian marine carriers for example Fednav, CSL, Groupe Desgagnés Inc, NEAS, Ocean Group, as well as the Société des traversiers du Québec and also the Canadian Coast Guard, make investments in: 1) improving their fleets through emission reduction technologies; 2) lowering the speed of ships or 3) using alternative fuels including liquefied natural gas (LNG) and biofuels.
The St. Lawrence ports have also undertaken several initiatives: installing electrical terminals to power ships (Montréal); introducing gas like a new ship refuelling service (Montréal, Québec); lowering port fees for eco-responsible shipowners (Québec); installing new loading equipment to lessen waiting times for ships (Sept-^Iles); funding ecological projects and innovations (Trois-Rivières); developing circular economy projects (Bécancour); installing electric conveyors (Saguenay).
This ongoing energy transition requires the development of renewable energy production tools, a search for efficiency gains, a reduction in consumption and an increase in interconnections to facilitate trade.
This structural transformation of one's production and consumption methods requires major investments, introduction of innovations along with a strong political will. Within this context, the Québec maritime and port industry's actions are members of international guidelines in energy transition.
This article is republished from The Conversation. Browse the original article.
