MONTREAL - The freighter BBC Steinhoeft that ran aground in the St. Lawrence Seaway has been moved.
At 3:15 Thursday morning the 138-metre ship hit one the side of the Seaway near the St. Lambert locks, then its stern drifted sideways to touch the other side in waters between the Victoria and Jacques Cartier bridges.
The Seaway Management Corporation and Transport Canada were on the scene Thursday morning to figure out what went wrong, and the best way to dislodge the ship.
"A ship that size takes about a kilometre to stop, if you want it to stop" said Jack Meloche.
"So at that point the pilots, and we're talking about Canadian pilots on board, starting losing the ship, it just never stopped until it went aground."
None of the 20 people aboard were hurt, and the ship did not take on any water.
Five vessels queuing up
By noon five ships were waiting, but by 2:30 p.m. the Steinhoelft had been moved out of the way.
A pair of tugboats pushed the stern of the vessel away from shore, allowing passage to other ships.
Meanwhile Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe is discussing the incident, saying on Twitter "Imagine if the ship was transporting radioactive waste to Europe."
On Tuesday Bruce Power announced it is delaying a shipment of radioactive generators through the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence to a recycling plant in Sweden.
Each generator contains 100 tonnes of steel, but about 4 grams of radioactive material.
