Despite efforts to reduce their carbon emissions, Canada’s lakers — the ships that carry cargo in the Great Lakes, St. Lawrence River and Arctic and East coasts — are finding themselves in an environmental and public relations quandary. That’s because the International Maritime Organization has paid scant attention to the needs of inland and coastal shipping when it comes to new decarbonization rules, focusing instead on the global ocean trade. “The IMO is looking at the long-distance drivers, the people on the 401 (highway),” said Bruce Burrows, President and CEO of the Chamber of Marine Commerce, “We’re the city drivers, as it were, who go from port to port to port with smaller ships that need to fit in locks and operate in different water conditions and temperatures. That’s our reality and we shouldn’t be penalized for that.”

Financial Post, January 30, 2022, https://financialpost.com/transportation/great-lakes-fleets-thrown-overboard-new-global-maritime-emissions-standards