Life on a Freighter

We’ve all seen them – massive ships navigating through the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence Seaway, transporting cargo to various ports such as Montreal, Ogdensburg and Oswego. They’re huge, majestic, and mysterious. What happens on these ships? What goes on behind the scenes? What does the ship look like inside? What do they transport? What is the crew like? In short, what is it like to live and work on one of these freighters?

In July 2018, Watertown Daily Times photographer Daytona Niles, Watertown Daily Times Reporter Marcus Wolfe, and WPBS-TV crew members Tracy DuFlo and Ryan Proven boarded a freighter in the Welland Canal near Niagara Falls, and journeyed with it to Eisenhower Lock in Massena, New York. We worked in cooperation with The St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation in Canada, St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation in the U.S., the company Canada Steamship Lines, or CSL Group, and Transport Canada to arrange a trip to show you the life and work on one of these ships. We spent about 30 hours on board the laker "CSL Welland" and engaged with the crew on board to give you “More to the Story: Life on a Freighter.”

T