Nunavut scrambles to resume fuel shipment after tanker runs aground

The tanker ship Tuvaq takes on a load of fuel in Iqaluit Sept. 2. The Tuvaq left over the long weekend for the Kitikmeot where it was to finish the fuel deliveries the Nanny was to complete before it ran aground 30 kilometres from Gjoa Haven. (PHOTO BY CHRIS WINDEYER)

A second oil tanker was en route to the central Arctic Sept. 7 to finish the job the Nanny started before it ran aground near Gjoa Haven Sept. 1.

The Tuvaq, also owned by Newfoundland’s Woodward Group, left Iqaluit over the labour day weekend with a load of fuel bound for Cambridge Bay, said Todd McKay, head of field operations for Nunavut’s Petroleum Products Division.

There, the Tuvaq was scheduled to unload fuel Sept. 9 before heading to Gjoa Haven and on to Taloyoak, McKay said.

“Then they’re going to move across to the Nanny and take as much fuel off as needed basically to get (the Nanny) floating again and moving on their way,” he said.

McKay said the Tuvaq was to head “over the top,” up Baffin Bay and through the Parry Channel towards Cambridge Bay.

The Nanny ran aground in shallow water about 30 kilometres from Gjoa Haven. Some media reports have said the ship is stuck on a sandbar.

The Nanny is carrying more than 9 million litres of diesel, gasoline and jet fuel destined for Gjoa Haven and Taloyoak, McKay said. Its delivery schedule is now shot, he said, but not enough for the communities to worry about fuel shortfalls.

“We’re delayed now on that routing, but not by enough to affect the communities,” he said. “Mother nature does this kind of stuff to you all the time.”

The Government of Nunavut splits with Woodward the cost of a third-party observer, who travels on board the tanker to ensure the deliveries go as planned, McKay said. The nine million litres of fuel on board the Nanny represents less than five per cent of the 200 million litres of fuel shipped to Nunavut communities annually.

Photos from the scene show calm seas and sunny weather. Larry Trigatti, superintendent of environmental response with the Canadian Coast Guard, said flights over the Nanny revealed nothing is leaking from the ship.

“There is no damage reported on the vessel, there is no water entering the vessel (and) the crew is safe,” Trigatti told Nunatsiaq News Sept. 2. Officials from the Canadian Coast Guard Ship Henry Larsen and Transport Canada were at the scene.

No one from Woodward’s-owned Coastal Shipping Limited, which operates fuel resupply shipments to Nunavut, was available to comment.

A spokeswoman at Nunavut’s environment department said the territorial government has no regulatory role in the operation, but has staff “observing and taking pictures because obviously we’re interested.”

The Nanny is the third ship to run aground in Nunavut waters in the last month. Another Woodward’s tanker, the Mokami ran aground near Pangnirtung in early August, though no oil leaked into the environment during that incident.

And on Aug. 27, the cruise ship Clipper Adventurer got stuck on an uncharted rock in three metres of water near Kugluktuk, forcing the evacuation of 120 passengers. No one was hurt in that incident.

Canadian ice expert John Falkingham told the National Post the string of incidents shows Arctic waters aren’t charted well enough.

“The companies that ship regularly in the Canadian Arctic, they all say that the lack of good charts in all of the waters is their biggest concern,” Falkingham said. “The ice has been receding faster than the Canadian Hydrographic Service (CHS) can get in there and do the necessary charting.”