On 20 October 2020 the containership Claude A Desgagnés departed Montreal en route to Toronto, according to reports by the Port of Montreal and others. The voyage, a collaboration between MSC and Groupe Desgagnés, is the first such container cabotage route on the Lakes since the early 1980s. 

It may also mark a positive turning point in the “Hwy H2O” initiative of the St Lawrence Seaway, which aims to position the seaway as an economically viable way to lower transportation related emissions of CO2. The seaway connects eight US states (from Minnesota to New York) as well as the province of Ontario to the Atlantic trade lanes.