December 22, 2014 - Auld's Cove, Nova Scotia
The Canso Canal will close for the 2014 shipping season on December 24 at 7:30 a.m. Atlantic Time.
The canal closes annually in December due to ice buildup in the Northumberland Strait and reopens in April.
In 2014, there were 1,282 ship passages through the canal carrying over 480,000 tonnes of cargo. The bulk of the cargo was salt, quarried materials and wood bark.
The canal was opened in 1955 to allow for vessel traffic through the Canso Causeway which links Cape Breton Island and mainland Nova Scotia. The canal, the only one operated by the Canadian Coast Guard, is an essential navigation component of the federal-provincial transportation agreement signed in 1953 which approved construction of the causeway and associated structures.
The canal is comprised of lock approach structures and one tidal lock.
Communications Branch
Maritimes Region
Fisheries and Oceans Canada
902-426-3550
NR-MAR-14-19E
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