Fuel tanker grounded in Northwest Passage
The fuel tanker Nanny ran aground in Nunavut, the third such incident in the past month in the rapidly thawing Northwest Passage. The owners of the Nanny were at work last night on a plan to refloat the 6,500-tonne, steel-hulled ship. No oil is leaking from the tanker, loaded with nine million liters of diesel fuel and trapped since early Wednesday near the community of Gjoa Haven in western Nunavut, National Posts reports.
“There is no damage reported on the vessel, there is no water entering the vessel, the crew is safe and we are working with Transport Canada and the vessel owners to determine a safe course of action,” said Larry Trigatti, the coast guard’s superintendent of environmental response for the Arctic.
The Nanny was shrouded in fog on Thursday afternoon, which could hamper refloating efforts.
None of the crew is believed to have been injured. All remain onboard.
A Coast Guard spokesperson said yesterday it had deployed the ice-breaker CCGS Henry Larsen to aid in the refloating effort.
The Nanny is owned by Coastal Shipping Limited, a subsidiary of Newfoundland-based Woodward’s Oil. The company provides fuel supplies to Labrador coastal communities and Nunavut.
No one from Woodward’s was available to comment.
The grounding is the third in Nunavut waters in the past month. Another Woodward’s tanker, the Mokami, ran aground near Pangnirtung in early August, though no oil leaked. On Aug. 27, the cruise ship Clipper Adventurer got stuck on an uncharted rock in three metres of water near Kugluktuk, forcing 120 passengers to fly home.
A leading Canadian ice expert said the incidents underline the inadequate charting of Arctic waters.
“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,” said Mr. Falkingham, who worked with the Canadian Ice Service for 32 years before starting his consultancy. “The ice has been receding faster than the Canadian Hydrographic Service (CHS) can get in there and do the necessary charting.”
The CHS is a government body responsible for the legal charting in the region, he said.
Industrial ships such as fuel tankers tend to stick to charted lines, said Mr. Falkingham, in order to take the “fastest and safest route” possible. He said equipment failure is most likely to blame for Wednesday’s incident.
