MONTREAL, Que. — The St. Lawrence Seaway closed the book on its longest ever season on Dec. 30, with more than 48 million tonnes of cargo being transported through the seaway over 283 days.

We are very pleased to report that Seaway traffic for the 2006 navigation season is projected to amount to a total of 48 million tonnes, a 10% increase over the 2005 results, said Richard Corfe, president and CEO of the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation. This achievement bodes well for the future of our Seaway, as a strong performance within our traditional bulk and breakbulk staples was complemented by a series of new and diversified cargo movements.

Corfe attributed the solid year in part to the companys Hwy H20 campaign, which was launched with the intent of moving freight from the highways to the seaway.

Our market development efforts, centered on the Hwy H2O campaign, brought in over 500,000 tonnes of new cargo movements over the course of 2006, adding over $1.2 million in incremental revenue to our top line, said Corfe. As these results represent an approximate 100% year-over-year increase in the volume of new cargoes coming into our system, momentum is clearly on our side.

Corfe added the seaway can accommodate a further 60% increase in cargo volumes, and pointed out Hwy H20 will play a key role as a complement to heavily-congested road and rail links within the intermodal cargo network.