The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation (SLSDC) and the Canadian St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation (SLSMC) opened the binational waterway’s 45th navigation season. This season marks the beginning of mandatory Automatic Identification System (AIS) use on commercial vessels entering waterway in North America to employ this technology as a requirement for transit. “AIS represents a significant improvement in marine transportation navigation, integrating vital navigation data long available through our Vessel Traffic Control Centers (VTCCs) with electronic chart display technology at the fingertips of officers on the bridge,” said SLSDC Administrator Albert Jacquez.