Weather delays efforts to salvage grounded ship in Franklin Strait
Coast guard reviewing draft plan; Transportation Safety Board investigating incident
The Thamesborg sits grounded in the Franklin Strait. (Photo courtesy of the Canadian Coast Guard)
Harsh weather in the Franklin Strait has delayed efforts to salvage the Thamesborg, a Dutch cargo ship that sat grounded for the 11th day Wednesday.
The ship was transporting carbon blocks to Quebec for industrial use when it ran aground Sept. 6 just off the coast of the Boothia Peninsula.
A salvage company and naval architect are on site, Royal Wagenborg, the Dutch company that owns the Thamesborg said in a statement. More salvage equipment and staff are on their way to the ship and are expected to arrive within a week.
“All salvage efforts are dependent on weather, and some operations have had to be delayed due to inclement weather over the weekend,” said the statement, issued Wednesday.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada confirmed to Nunatsiaq News it is investigating the incident.
The Canadian Coast Guard and Transport Canada are also currently reviewing a draft salvage plan, said Sue McLennan, the coast guard’s regional director of response for the Arctic Region.
She declined to estimate a timeline for the ship’s removal.
“Equipment is going to take time to get there,” she said in an interview.
The closest community is Taloyoak, more than 150 kilometres away, and coast guard ships have helped ferry crews and equipment to the Thamesborg over the past several days.
Meanwhile, navigation through the Northwest Passage could get trickier in coming weeks as ice starts to move south across the Arctic Ocean. The region is generally considered to be most accessible from July through September.
The Franklin Strait remained ice free as of Wednesday, with some ice accumulation on the north coast of Prince of Wales Island, according to Environment and Climate Change Canada’s ice forecast. Gale-force winds ranging from 27 km/h to 64 km/h are forecast from Wednesday night through to Saturday.
“Everyone knows Arctic weather, the water, the ice and overall conditions can definitely be harsh and unpredictable,” McLennan said.
“We’re working very closely with Environment and Climate Change Canada to make sure that we understand all of the meteorological forecasts and we’re considering those when the plans are being prepared.”
McLennan stressed the coast guard’s role is to mitigate any risks to the environment. Salvage or remediation efforts by Royal Wagenborg or the Canadian government are the financial responsibility of Royal Wagenborg.
As for the Thamesborg, the situation remains stable, according to Royal Wagenborg and the coast guard in their updates, issued earlier this week.
The ship’s ballast tanks are damaged but the fuel tank and cargo holds are intact.
“All crew aboard the Thamesborg are safe,” said a statement from Royal Wagenborg.
The Thamesborg isn’t the first ship to run aground in the area in recent weeks.
The cargo vessel Rosaire A. Desgagnes ran aground Aug. 23 in Pelly Bay while en route to Kugaaruk with a cargo of community supplies, said Nic Defalco, a spokesperson for the Transportation Safety Board of Canada.
The vessel refloated on its own with the tide and anchored for a damage assessment, then made its way to Nanisivik with a coast guard escort.
“The vessel is on its way to dry dock for repairs,” said Defalco, who said investigators with the Transportation Safety Board of Canada travelled to St. John’s, N.L.., to interview crew and collect the voyage data recorder.
The safety board is investigating this incident as well.
Franklin Strait, the NW Passage, September, refloating a grounded vessel, it is as difficult work as one could imagine.
This ship is grounded a stone’s throw away from where the Russian truck expedition lost its vehicle through the ice a couple of seasons ago, and where the truck was eventually recovered from the ocean at considerable cost and effort.
This past incident screams shallow water and resulting strong currents.
You would think at this stage, anyone transiting this area would know to give these islands near the coast a very wide berth.
There is at least 20km of wide open water to the west of where the ship is grounded which gave them plenty of space and options to continue north to Lancaster Sound farther from shore.
Short of a highly unlikely navigation equipment failure, it seems very poor choices were made on this ship’s bridge.
Maybe ships will realise Arctic waters aren’t so forgiving. Is there too much ice already in the Parry Channel and that’s why the ship was further south? Looking at a map the Franklin Strait seems a roundabout way.
Perhaps a tugboat attached with a steady pull and a combination of high tide and waves will float the vessel
Moving water from ballast tanks will help and as last resort unload some of the cargo, maybe a barge in the area
The tidal range in Franklin Strait is about 60 centimeters, which isn’t much to lift the ship.
Given the loaded draft (9.60 m according to Vesselfinder), the ship likely had no ballast. However, the ballast tanks were punctured by the grounding, so pumping out the water will be difficult.
I when I first heard of the Thamesborg getting stuck way up there, in the Canadian Arctic regions, for a ship that has travelled the Atlantic Ocean for sure and has travelled both the Great Lakes & St.Lawrence regions, being way up in the Arctic of Canada enroute to Baie Comeau QC., in the east St.Lawrence River region, just how! or what route would they have taken to get where stuck in the Canadian Arctic down to Baie Comeau QC., when normally coming from China, to Baie Comeau QC., the Thamesborg would head by west to the Suez Canal across the Mediterranean onto the Atlantic Ocean and into the St.Lawrence River for Baie Comeau QC. Seems strange, the Thamesborg would go through the Canadian Arctic to get over and around. Anyways good luck and be back up sailing soon.
The ship came from Lianyungang, China. The distance from there to Baie Comeau via the Suez Canal is 12250 Nautical Miles. The shorter way is via Panama, that’s 11485 NM.
But the shortest route is via the Northwest passage, The Arctic route is about 3,750 nautical miles shorter than through the Panama Canal.