Owners of cruise ship stuck near Kugluktuk plot salvage operation

Clipper Adventurer onto dry land last month. The ship’s American owners are now trying to figure out how to free the vessel after it got stuck in shallow water near Kugluktuk. (FILE PHOTO)”/>
Coast Guard crew help a passenger evacuated from the Clipper Adventurer onto dry land last month. The ship’s American owners are now trying to figure out how to free the vessel after it got stuck in shallow water near Kugluktuk. (FILE PHOTO)

A team including members of a Miami-based company called International Shipping Partners spent the past week on board on the marooned Clipper Adventurer, which remained grounded after hitting a rock about 100 kilometres east of Kugluktuk on Aug. 27.

As the owners of the ship used by Adventure Canada for its Arctic cruises, International Shipping Partners rushed to the site to evaluate the damage and determine how to salvage the 90-metre ship and evacuate the 70 crew still on board.

On Sept. 1 International Shipping Partners awarded the contract for the salvage of the ship to another Florida-based company called Resolve Marine Group.

Resolve’s salvage master and salvage engineer arrived on the ship Aug. 29 and immediately began assessment of damage to the ship, reports the website for the magazine Marine Log.

Resolve plans to remove fuel and perform temporary repairs to breaches in the hull so the ship can be towed to Cambridge Bay. Equipment from Resolve’s operations centre is being flown to Cambridge Bay and Tuktoyaktuk to be brought to the stranded ship. Salvage staff will fly in from Yellowknife, the website said Sept. 3.

Speaking in an interview earlier this week, Bill Evans, a spokesperson for Adventure Canada, said his company is eager to learn if the ship will be seaworthy for the rest of its season.

Adventure Canada plans to rebook passengers who couldn’t take the Northwest Passage cruise that was to have started Aug. 28.

And those who were smart enough to take cancellation insurance can also claim refund for the cost of the cruise.

Fortunately, none of the 100-plus passengers on board the Clipper Adventurer suffered more than inconvenience after the ship grounded.

But if they had, the liability situation for Adventure Canada would have been much more serious.

According to maritime lawyer Marc Isaacs of Toronto, the Athens Convention, which established an international regime of liability for damage suffered by passengers carried on a seagoing vessel, says operators are liable for damage or loss suffered by a passenger if the incident causing the damage occurred during the trip and was due to their fault or neglect.

For most shipping-related claims, there’s a cap on the amount a person can recover- $350,000.

“But you could envision the situation, where someone is horribly injured and disabled for life and the limitation on liability may not be sufficient to meet their needs,” Isaacs said.

And ships don’t always want to pay when there are injuries. Passengers on the MV Alexy Maryshev suffered head injuries, fractured ribs, and broken arms and legs when the glacier they were photographing calved, sending ice crashing onto the ship’s deck, while other pieces of ice wen into the sea, where they caused a 20-metres high wave which rocked the boat, says the Telegraph. A trial on the issue of liability is expected to begin in Britain’s High Court next year.

As for damage in the case of the Clipper Adventurer, that’s something International Shipping Partners will have to pay for- and it may be expensive. The insurance deductible could be as high as $1 million for the 35-year-old ship.

Isaacs said he had never seen a situation where a large commercial vessel like the Clipper Adventurer didn’t have insurance.

For tankers like the Nanny, now grounded near Gjoa Haven, insurance is mandatory, Isaacs said.