Have you been missing the sound of the ship whistle over Thorold in the past few months?
You’ll soon hear it again, after the Welland Canal officially opened for the season this morning. During the traditional ‘Top Hat’-ceremony in Welland this morning, Port Colborne Mayor Bill Steele declared the canal open for traffic after the regular hiatus during the first part of this year.
The canal has been a lucrative trade route as freight ships hauled more than 38 million tons of cargo last year, Steele said.
The Top Hat-ceremony has been a yearly occurrence or around 50 years, and is mean to ‘bestow honour upon the captain of the first boat passing downbound through the canal’ – in this case, towards Lake Erie.
The Welland Canal officially opened on August 6, 1932. To see a live map of ship traffic on the canal, click here.
