OTTAWA, Ontario ? A new study released Wednesday contends that $7 billion has been spent on asset renewal and infrastructure improvements in the bi-national Great Lakes-St. Lawrence shipping system, more than $100 million Michigan on ports, terminals and waterways.

The investment survey, compiled by maritime trade consultants, Martin Associates, tallies US$ 6.9 billion in capital spending on ships, ports and terminals and waterway infrastructure in the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence waterway.

Of that total, $4.7 billion has been invested in the navigation system from 2009-2013 and another $2.2 billion is committed to improvements from 2014-2018. Two-thirds of the capital (67 percent) was invested by private companies with 33 percent coming from government funding.

Amongst the most significant investments, American, Canadian and international ship owners are spending $4 billion on the biggest renewal of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence fleets in 30 years. The U.S. and Canadian federal governments, through respectively the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation and The St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation, have dedicated close to $1 billion to modernize the Seaway?s lock infrastructure and technology over the 10-year period ? the Seaway?s most significant transformation in five decades. And Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River ports and terminals are also collectively investing more than $1.7 billion on expanding their docks, equipment, facilities and intermodal connections.

The bi-national Chamber of Marine Commerce, one of the trade associations that commissioned the survey, adds that the right regulatory climate has been key for the flurry of capital expenditures, citing New York State?s decision to not move ahead with unachievable standards for ballast water treatment systems, which would have effectively blocked marine ships from passing through the St. Lawrence Seaway, as a prime example.

The report shows Michigan will spend $115.1 million on ports, terminals and waterways from 2009-2018, ranking it third behind New York ($180.8 million) and Ohio ($130.3 million).

To read the full report, Click on MarineDelivers.Com