The Welland Canal’s strategic location

From the Welland Canal Corridor, it’s just a hundred kilometres by road to reach Toronto and its market of nearly six million people. Buffalo is even closer, a short drive across the Peace Bridge in Fort Erie. From there, the destinations span both sides of the United States-Canada border.

Detroit and a market of six million people are within 350 kilometres of the Canal. You can get to Columbus, Ohio with a trip of 565 kilometres, and New York City and Philadelphia with a 650-kilometre trip. Boston at 775 kilometres and Chicago at 830 kilometres are well within a day’s drive of Niagara. Major cities like Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City, Washington, Baltimore and Indianapolis are all part of the accessible universe businesses in the Welland Canal Corridor can access.

The total market? About 130 million people within a day’s drive, spanning two Canadian provinces and nine American states. The total GDP of those regions comes out to roughly $5.6 trillion.

By ship, Niagara’s market access is just as vast. The Welland Canal sits at the heart of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway system, the world’s largest deep-draft inland waterway. This system stretches 3,700 kilometres inland. Ships can transit the Seaway from ports on Lake Superior — ports like Duluth, Minnesota and Thunder Bay, Ontario — and sail through Niagara all the way to Montreal and Quebec City, and in some cases straight to the Atlantic Ocean.

“With half of North America’s population located within a one-day drive, Niagara is an ideal location to easily connect with customers and suppliers,” Niagara Economic Development notes in describing the Canal Corridor’s strategic location.

That location is emphasized by the sheer volume of cargo passing through Ontario by way of the Seaway. Of the 104 million short tons of cargo the Seaway handled in Ontario, 69.8 million of it flowed through Ontario — more than two-thirds of the volume. That activity helped generate nearly $9.6 billion in economic activity for Ontario alone.

The Welland Canal is a vital geographic link in the immense and profitable chain of North American trade. That trade network stretches across both land and sea, by ship, truck and rail. Niagara is the ideal place to access all aspects of that network and to reach some of North America’s most prosperous markets.