Cargo ship runs aground south of Montreal; no injuries reported

A massive cargo ship ran aground Thursday evening near Montreal's South Shore and officials expect it to be stuck there for at least a day.

With the ongoing rail strike, there is more urgency to remove it so goods can move through the busy St. Lawrence Seaway shipping canal.

The Kahnawake Mohawk Peacekeepers said in a post on Facebook that the ship ran aground at 6:40 p.m. in the Saint Lawrence River near Kateri Island in the Kanien'kehá:ka (Mohawk) community.

"There are no injuries reported, and there is no danger to the community," the policing service said online.

Landon Goodleaf was at the Marina social club and saw the whole thing happen.

"You could actually see the ship, dropped his anchors and just lost control. It was wild," he said. "We had another ship that was going the opposite direction, and I think he swung around and he clipped him at that point. Bang, bang, bang. We heard a lot loud noises."

The St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation said the vessel's engine failed, making it unable to steer. It was carrying scrap metal and there is no risk of a spill, the seaway said.

The authority hopes the ship will be moved by noon on Saturday. Until then, other vessels will have to wait.

"The nature of the grounding is impressive," said St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation Vice-President Jean-Aubry Morin. "It will hopefully be an easy grounding."

The next steps, he said, will be for tugboats to free the ship and tow it away.

There are 14 other boats currently waiting for passage through the canal.

"For us, time is the essence and the reason behind that is because the rail strike is still, I would say, in the a sensitive time," said Morin, adding that if there is a delay, an additional 10 ships per day will be caught in the queue. 

Two ships aground in 2015

It is not the first time a ship has run aground in or near Kahnawake.

In October 2015, a tanker carrying raw alcohol lost power and hit the north shore of the seaway in Kahnawake.

The local newspaper, The Eastern Door, reported the Jo Spirit was heading east towards the Côte Saint Catherine locks when it hit the wall.

A seaway spokesperson said there was never any danger that the load would spill into the community due to it being a double-hulled vessel.

In December of that year, Kahnawake's Emergency Preparedness and Planning department reported that the BBC Maple Lea ran aground near Saint Nicholas Island near Châteauguay, the municipality west of Kahnawake.

That ship was carrying scrap metal and did not cause any spill, according to reports. 

For Kahnawake Public Safety Director Lloyd Phillips, the grounding of ships is particularly concerning for the community as residents don't know what is coming through their community.

"We don't know what passes through this area on a daily basis, but when we found it was not hazardous materials, again, it was a great sigh of relief," said Phillps. "This has always been a concern for our community, going back to the 1950s. Having these ships pass by close to a residential area and older houses that are just 70 yards in this direction."

 

With reporting from CTV News Montreal journalist Kelly Greig