Editing Lake Erie (section)

===Shipping traffic===
The lake has been a shipping lane for maritime vessels for centuries.<ref name=twsX15a/><ref name=twsX28a/> Ships headed eastward can take the [[Welland Canal]]<ref name=twsX34/> and a series of eight locks descending {{convert|326|ft|m}} to Lake Ontario which takes about 12 hours.<ref name=twsX18/> Thousands of ships make this journey each year.<ref name=twsX18/> During the 19th century, ships could enter the [[Buffalo River (New York)|Buffalo River]] and travel the [[Erie Canal]] eastward to [[Albany, New York|Albany]] then south to New York City along the [[Hudson River]]. Generally there is heavy traffic on the lake except during the winter months from January through March when ice prevents vessels from traveling safely.<ref name=twsX34>{{cite news
 |author       = 
 |title        = Last Ship Clears Great Lakes
 |newspaper    = Chicago Tribune
 |date         = January 6, 1991
 |url          = https://www.chicagotribune.com/1991/01/06/last-ship-clears-great-lakes/
 |access-date  = January 24, 2011
 |archive-date = December 4, 2011
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20111204131011/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1991-01-06/travel/9101020283_1_lake-erie-st-lawrence-seaway-lake-ontario
 |url-status   = live
}}</ref>

In 2007, there was a protest against Ontario's energy policy which allows the shipping of [[coal]] in the lake; [[Greenpeace]] activists climbed a ladder on a freighter and "locked themselves to the conveyor belt device that helps to unload the ship's cargo"; three activists were arrested and the ship was delayed for more than four hours, and anti-coal messages were painted on the ship.<ref name="twsX315">{{cite news |author=Gorrie |first=Peter |date=August 31, 2007 |title=3 Greenpeace members held in Lake Erie stunt |newspaper=The Star |url=https://www.thestar.com/article/251941 |url-status=dead |access-date=January 24, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023100506/http://www.thestar.com/article/251941 |archive-date=October 23, 2012}}</ref>