Welland Canal Welland Canal The Welland Canal is a ship canal in Ontario, Canada, connecting Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. It forms a key section of the St. Lawrence Seaway. Traversing the Niagara Peninsula from Port Weller to Port Colborne, it enables ships to ascend and descend the Niagara Escarpment and bypass Niagara Falls. The canal carries about 3,000 ships which carry about 40,000,000 tons of cargo a year. It was a major factor in the growth of the city of Toronto, Ontario. The original canal and its successors allowed goods from Great Lakes ports such as Cleveland, Detroit, and Chicago, as
Manchester Ship Canal gross tons. Manchester Liners acquired control of the company in 1974, to ensure the availability of facilities for the repair of its fleet of ships. Two years after the opening of the ship canal, financier Ernest Terah Hooley bought the country estate belonging to Sir Humphrey Francis de Trafford for £360,000 (£ in ). Hooley intended to develop the site, which was close to Manchester and at the end of the canal, as an exclusive housing estate, screened by woods from industrial units constructed along the frontage onto the canal. With the predicted traffic for the canal slow to materialise,