# 2024-31566: America and Canada Update Ancient Great Lakes Shipping Rules 2024-31566, Seaway Regulations and Rules: Periodic Update, Various Categories, is a Federal Register rule from an unnamed agency published 2025-01-10, effective 2025-01-10 (as of 2026-06-11). - Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/federal-register/2024-31566 - As of: 2026-06-11 - Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts. ## Facts - Document number: 2024-31566 - Title: Seaway Regulations and Rules: Periodic Update, Various Categories - Type: Rule - Agencies: unknown - Citation: unknown - Published: 2025-01-10 - Effective: 2025-01-10 - Comments close: not stated - Significant: no - Touches household money: no - Regulation identifier numbers: none - Last updated: 2026-06-11 ## In one line America and Canada Update Ancient Great Lakes Shipping Rules ## Summary The Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway folks just updated their rules to make things clearer for ships and crews using the waterway. These changes affect vessel conditions, navigation, radio use, and handling dangerous cargo, starting January 10, 2025. If you operate or work on ships in the Seaway, get ready for smoother sailing with no new fees or delays! ## Abstract The Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation (GLS) and the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation (SLSMC) of Canada, under international agreement, jointly publish and presently administer the St. Lawrence Seaway Regulations and Rules (Practices and Procedures in Canada) in their respective jurisdictions. Under agreement with the SLSMC, the GLS is amending the joint regulations by updating the regulations and rules in various categories. These changes are to clarify existing requirements in the regulations. ## Effects PRIA read - Landing-boom equipment, training, documents: cost, medium. If your vessel is more than 50 m long and has a freeboard of 2 m or more, you may be equipped with landing booms but must have an adequate boom on each side, crew training, and onboard test certificates and maintenance records dated within 5 years. At U.S. locks vessels without landing booms may be… - Up to 7 cm extra loading if DIS used: mixed, medium. A vessel may load up to 7 cm more draught above the regular maximum if it has an approved Draught Information System (DIS) and meets requirements including an IACS-approved DIS, an operational AIS with Seaway-approved accuracy, up-to-date electronic and high-resolution bathymetric charts, an operat… - New mooring and hand-line equipment standards: cost, medium. The rule updates required mooring-line breaking strengths by ship length (e.g., ships 40–60 m require 10 MT breaking strength; ships over 200 m up to 225.5 m require 35 MT) and limits synthetic-line elongation to 20%. Hand lines must be uniform thickness with diameter between 12 mm and 18 mm and at… - Burning shipboard garbage prohibited in zones: cost, low. Burning shipboard garbage is now prohibited between call in point 2 (CIP 2) and Cape Vincent, and between CIP 15 and CIP 16. Vessels transiting those segments must retain and dispose of garbage ashore or per other rules. - Keep inspection, rules, and fire plans onboard: cost, low. Every vessel in transit must keep a paper copy of its valid Ship Inspection Report in the wheelhouse, keep a paper or electronic copy of the Rules and the Seaway Notices for the current navigation year in the wheelhouse, and store a duplicate set of Fire Control Plans in a weather-tight enclosure o… - Hands-Free Mooring: one crew member required: cost, low. When a vessel is moored by the Hands-Free Mooring (HFM) system or passes through a lock without mooring lines, the vessel must have at least one well-rested crew member on deck during the lockage to assist the bridge team. - Gyro compass error and servicing rule: cost, low. A gyro compass error greater than 2 degrees must be serviced before transiting the Seaway; if the error is found during transit it must be reported to the nearest Seaway station and serviced at the first opportunity. - Pleasure craft scheduling and reservations: cost, low. At U.S. locks, pleasure craft transits will be scheduled by the traffic controller or officer in charge and may be delayed to avoid interference with other vessels. Every pleasure craft seeking to transit Canadian locks must first make a reservation on the Seaway website according to the available… - Hot-work permission on approach walls and wharves: cost, low. Before conducting hot work (flame, cutting, welding) on designated SLSMC approach walls, Cote St. Catherine wharf, or Welland Canal wharves, a written request should be sent to the SLSMC preferably 24 hours before arrival; hot work may not commence until SLSMC Traffic Control Center approval is obt… ## Related documents - [2026-20736](https://policyrisk.com/federal-register/2026-20736): Air Plan Approval; Michigan; Clean Data Determination for the Berrien, MI and Muskegon, MI Areas for the 2015 Ozone Standards, 2026-10-09 - [2026-20757](https://policyrisk.com/federal-register/2026-20757): Schedules of Controlled Substances; Removal of Exemption Status for Inactive Butalbital Products, 2026-10-09 - [2026-20727](https://policyrisk.com/federal-register/2026-20727): Medical Devices; Immunology and Microbiology Devices; Classification of the System for Detection of Nucleic Acid From Non-Viral Microorgani…, 2026-10-09 - [2026-20792](https://policyrisk.com/federal-register/2026-20792): Raisins Produced From Grapes Grown in California; Order Amending Marketing Order No. 989, 2026-10-09 - [C1-2026-20019](https://policyrisk.com/federal-register/C1-2026-20019): Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Groundfish Reserves in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area, 2026-10-09 - [2026-20748](https://policyrisk.com/federal-register/2026-20748): Schedules of Controlled Substances: Placement of O-Desmethyltramadol in Schedule I; Correction, 2026-10-09 ## Sources - [2024-31566 on federalregister.gov](https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/01/10/2024-31566/seaway-regulations-and-rules-periodic-update-various-categories) - [2024-31566 as published (PDF)](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2025-01-10/pdf/2024-31566.pdf) ## Related - [Previous: 2024-31513, Credit for Production of Clean Hydrogen and Energy Credit](https://policyrisk.com/federal-register/2024-31513) - [Next: 2024-31602, Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Annual Adjustments for 2025](https://policyrisk.com/federal-register/2024-31602) - [All Federal Register documents](https://policyrisk.com/federal-register) Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/federal-register/2024-31566 (as of 2026-06-11).