The Welland Canal Corridor is a unique hub of business and industry and a generator of innovation and trade. It’s the centre of Ontario’s largest marine services cluster and hosts businesses across sectors of the economy – and for good reason. Every year, nearly eight billion dollars of economic activity passes through Niagara by way of the Welland Canal, the key waterway connecting lakes Erie and Ontario and linking the industrial heart of the US and Canada to the world.
The Canal Corridor hosts the largest shipyard on the Great Lakes and the headquarters of the largest Seaway ship operator with the largest fleet of lake freighters. It’s home to a central operations centre for the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation. Marine services are just one piece of the puzzle: The Canal Corridor supports logistics companies, heavy haul service, ship repair firms, machining and electrical contractors, steelmakers, chandlers and more.
Businesses locate in the Canal Corridor for its unique advantages – important puzzle pieces that drive innovation. Niagara is a federally-designated Foreign Trade Zone, and the Canal Corridor is supported by Class 1 and short-line rail, four 400-series highways, four international border crossings, strong telecommunications infrastructure and abundant source water and hydroelectricity. The Canal supports multiple wharves, grain and marine terminals, metal fabricators, biodiesel manufacturers, auto parts suppliers and food processors, with a large supply of strategic land and buildings available adjacent to the Canal. These assets support the 3,000 ships per year that travel the Canal, carrying 40 million tons of cargo annually. This traffic places Niagara at the centre of the world’s largest deep-draft inland waterway system.
The Welland Canal was built to help supercharge Ontario’s economy, from Thunder Bay to Cornwall. The Canal Corridor is one of the major arteries of the Ontario economy, and there’s no place closer to it than Niagara.
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