The Cargo Transported
We saw earlier how much smaller the locks were in the first canal than they are today, which means that the ships had to be smaller as well. The maximum size of ship that travelled through the first Welland canal was 30.5m long with a cargo capacity of 165 tons. These ships were pulled along the canal by horses. The ships of today are 222.5m long and have the carrying capacity of 28,000 tons.
Since the beginning of the canal, the number of vessels travelling the canal has increased. Take a look at this graph.
This information is only on the present Welland canal which means that
the size of the canal is not a factor in the in the increased cargo transported.What
is the factor then? Well, it must be the number of ships travelling the
Welland canal.