GLS Corporate Social Responsibility
Since the St. Lawrence Seaway opened in 1959, the U.S. Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation (GLS) has been committed to its workforce, the environment of the Great Lakes Seaway System, the Upstate New York community, and diverse stakeholders who depend on the waterway for commerce and recreation. We strongly endorse ethical business practices and embrace interaction with all parties for the betterment of the Seaway and its users. We believe this brings sustained, collective value to our stakeholders, our employees, our community, and our environment.
Stakeholders
The St. Lawrence Seaway depends on the loyalty of its global customer base. We continue to look for ways to improve waterway and lock operations that will ensure the Seaway’s reliability, availability, and its cost competitiveness versus competing transportation routes and modes. We will continue to engage our stakeholders to develop future priorities, initiatives, and programs.
Employees
Our No. 1 resource is our employees. To ensure that we can continue to meet our mission goals, we continue to focus on aggressive recruiting, professional development, retention, training, knowledge management and succession strategies. We remain deeply committed to providing a safe and healthy workplace environment.
Community
The Corporation considers the local “North Country” region of New York to be its home. This region includes 350,000 residents who reside primarily in the counties of St. Lawrence, Jefferson, Franklin, and Clinton. Each year, we generate more than $8.5 million for the region in economic benefits through payroll, purchases, and economic development. This economic impact confirms our status as one of the Top 10 employers in the Empire State’s North Country region.
Environment
We are actively involved in numerous initiatives and partnerships aimed at protecting the ecosystem of the Great Lakes basin and the St. Lawrence River. Through our stewardship, we remain committed to working collectively with federal, state, and local governmental agencies as well as citizen groups and environmental organizations to help protect our shared resource. To that end, we serve on the Steering Committee of the U.S./Canadian Green Marine Coalition, a voluntary, industry sustainability initiative designed to strengthen environmental performance, build stronger relations among waterway stakeholders, and heighten understanding of the industry’s activities and environmental benefits.
For practical examples of how we are delivering on these commitments, please consult our Annual reports.