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CBC
7 days ago
- General
- CBC
After a cargo ship ran aground in N.L., crews are racing to unload its contents: heavy oil
Social Sharing When the MSC Baltic III ran aground on the shores of Cedar Cove on Newfoundland's west coast in February, the first concern was getting the 20 crew members off safely. The ship is massive, at 207 metres long and 30 metres wide, and the coast guard in the area immediately went into rescue mode. But an operation this size was bigger than anything they've seen in decades. "It's not something we deal with every single day. We've dealt a lot with, you know, smaller vessels — 65-foot vessels are easier, smaller quantities. When this vessel came in I said, 'Oh my God, this is huge,'" said Bruce English, a senior response officer who's been with the Canadian Coast Guard for the last 30 years. "This is the biggest incident that I've been involved with." The cargo ship ran aground after it lost power on board. With the crew unable to drop an anchor amid the heavy winter winds, the vessel luckily drifted into a cove with a relatively accessible point of a beach, which made getting to it easier for rescue and cleanup crews. WATCH | The race to clean up the MSC Baltic III: Shipwreck: The race to clean up MSC Baltic III 1 day ago An urgent operation is underway to contain heavy oil inside the MSC Baltic III, grounded off the coast of Newfoundland and being battered by the North Atlantic. For The National, CBC's Peter Cowan gets an exclusive look at the cargo shipwreck cleanup, one of the largest Canada has faced in decades. "It's simply amazing that that vessel came into this location," says English. "The whole length of the shoreline here is beautiful, but it's quite rugged and dangerous and it would have been a different ending if it ended up somewhere else." The ship was loaded with 472 containers, with everything from textiles to food to whiskey, but the bigger concern was making sure the 1,600 tonnes of fuel oil on board was removed safely without leaking into the ocean. Cleanup efforts It's been six months, and the process of removing the fuels is complicated and time consuming. So far, the bulk of it has been released and pumped ashore, work that's being done by the ship's owner, the Mediterranean Shipping Company. Environment and Climate Change Canada is overseeing that it's done properly. "And there's a lot more work to do," said English. The oil needs to be heated up with steam to make it less thick, a process that could take up to seven days. Then it has to be pumped into different tanks on the ship's deck, pumped into barges, then transferred onto another ship before being carried away. The dangers associated with the process are potentially extreme for the environment. And already, tarballs — small fragments of fuel from the ship — have been detected on the beach, a reality that's being closely monitored for the potential harm they can cause. "Whenever you have a hydrocarbon within the marine environment, there's always a problem or a potential for impact certainly on an ecosystem level with anywhere from the small … insects that birds or fish might eat all the way up the food chain," said Mark Dalton, senior environmental emergencies officer with ECCC. The chemistry of the tarballs need to be matched with specific fuel tanks still on the ship so that the cleanup crew can determine which tanks might be leaking. Dalton says they need to understand the chemistry of the tarballs so they know " what that oil might look like if there was a catastrophic release of the same source," says Dalton. Concerned communities Among those most concerned are the hundreds of families who rely on fishing as their main source of income in these waters. Jeff Childs fishes in the area and was one of the first on scene when the MSC Baltic III ran aground. "This is our lobster ground right here," says Childs. "What you see, this is all lobster ground. If this oil don't get out, you know, before hurricane season, there's potential that it could break up and we could still have a spill." Childs is referring to the harsh conditions on the water that are just around the corner with hurricane season starting in the fall, a deadline that has put added pressure on the cleanup. The coast guard agrees. "Make no mistake about it, if it's on this type of shoreline, it will be extremely difficult to do, especially through winter months. Even gaining access to the vessel already has been down to 50 per cent of the time," said English. The cleanup operation has removed ninety percent of fuel from the ship already, but the 10 percent that remains still represents a significant risk if not handled properly. Representatives of the area's Qalipu First Nation are watching the cleanup closely and have advocated to be a part of the operation, saying an oil spill in these waters would be catastrophic. "It would absolutely be devastating," said Chief Jennifer Brake. "All across Newfoundland, we have people that have counted on our waters to feed us and sustain us, and we don't want that to change." In the meantime, interest in the shipwreck has brought tourists to the cove to take pictures and see the ship up close. And town officials say restaurants and hotels in the area have been busier than in previous summers. With the cleanup expected to still take months to complete, area residents are hoping it continues to go smoothly until the ship is either floated off or broken into pieces and disposed of in Cedar Cove.
CBC
07-03-2025
- General
- CBC
Still no timeline to remove grounded cargo ship near Lark Harbour
It's sustainability over speed for the MSC Baltic III cargo ship salvage mission. Nearly a month since the vessel ran aground near Lark Harbour, crews are still working to remove fuel and cargo as the ship sits on the sea floor. "Speed is not the primary goal here. Minimizing environmental impact is the primary goal," said Bruce English, the Canadian Coast Guard's senior response officer for marine environmental and hazards, on Friday. Fisheries and Oceans Canada held a technical briefing Friday morning. They were joined by officials from the coast guard, Environment and Climate Change Canada and Transport Canada. Tim Kerr of Transport Canada said once pollutants are removed, crews can begin planning the potential refloating of the vessel. "At this point we can't say with any certainty, you know, when or whether the vessel will be refloated," said Kerr. When asked by reporters how much the recovery operation will cost, English said that's not a point of focus right now. "It is hard to determine the time frame at this point, but for an operation this size and scale, you can imagine it will be lengthy," he said. English says Canada follows the "polluter pays" principle, which means the vessel's owners will have to foot the bill related to the clean up and address hazards posed by their problem vessel. The company that owns the ship, the Mediterranean Shipping Company, hired TNT Salvage and the Eastern Canada Response Corporation to assess damage and clean up the mess. The cargo aboard the ship contains materials classified as dangerous goods, including fabrics, food products, metals and polymeric beads. There is no immediate threat to human health, but they could cause environmental damage. The ship's cranes still work and may aid the removal of cargo, and an approval to fix a road leading to the area of the ship is forthcoming, English said. Over 1,700 metric tonnes of fuel and marine gas remains on board. The emergency and drone restriction zone in Cedar Cove has been reduced to one nautical mile, but the public is still asked to respect the boundary.
CBC
21-02-2025
- Climate
- CBC
Cracks, leaks found in cargo ship that ran aground near Lark Harbour
Crews continue to work around the weather as they assess and attempt to recover a cargo ship that ran aground last weekend near Lark Harbour, N.L. The ship — and its crew of 20, which were rescued — lost power at sea and found itself aground in Cedar Cove on Newfoundland's west coast. On Friday, Bruce English, senior response officer with the Marine Environmental and Hazards section of the Canadian Coast Guard, said a leak was found in the MSC Baltic III. "It's been a painful week waiting for information," said English. Winds have clocked over 100 kilometres per hour in Lark Harbour Friday, but crews were still able to get aboard the stuck vessel. Damage has been found on the bottom and the hull, said English, and there is "an oily water mixture" in the engine room and water in some cargo holds. Texas-based company T&T Salvage is on site and is weighing the options for the ship's removal. Safety of crews is one of the top priorities for the coast guard at the moment, said English. "We successfully removed 20 people without anyone getting hurt during the storm," he said. "We don't want to hurt anybody or injure them [by] putting them on." An emergency zone has been designated in the water, air and on the land in the area of the grounded ship. The coast guard is asking people not to let their curiosity get the better of them as operations continue. They are urging everyone to stay away from the area. Drones are not allowed to be flown in the area, as a coast guard helicopter has been making daily flights over the vessel. "Everyone is curious," said English. "If it was in my backyard, I'd want to know, too. But we ask that people stay back from the area."
CBC
18-02-2025
- Climate
- CBC
High winds and rough seas stall bid to salvage ship grounded off western Newfoundland
Rough weather on Tuesday forced salvage specialists to abandon their inspection of a cargo ship that ran aground in a rocky cove along Newfoundland's west coast over the weekend. Bruce English, senior response officer with the Marine Environmental and Hazards section of the Canadian Coast Guard, told CBC News that Texas-based T&T Salvage has been tasked with drafting a plan to get the MSC Baltic III off the rocks at the edge of Cedar Cove, near Lark Harbour. The ship had a crew of 20 aboard when it lost power in heavy seas, drifted outside the entrance to Bay of Islands and then ran aground. "Early [Tuesday] morning, 9:30 or something, they made an attempt to get on board again and they couldn't. There was three-metre seas and 30 knots of winds," English told CBC Radio's The Broadcast. "They had another attempt to get on board, and the conditions are just as bad, if not worse, than what they were before." Despite powerful gusts, the crew aboard a Cormorant search-and-rescue helicopter safely airlifted everyone from the vessel on Saturday. English said there was no sign of any fuel or oil spilling from the vessel as of Tuesday afternoon. The four-person team from T&T Salvage will assess the damage in the coming days, English said, and present a plan to the coast guard and Transport Canada about how to get the boat out of Cedar Cove safely. The CCGS Ann Harvey is on site as part of the effort, and English said the CCGS Jean Goodwill will also join on Wednesday. The weather hasn't provided suitable conditions for on the water operations. English said that means a timeline around the work is still unknown.
