The Thamesborg, a 12-year-old, 21,359 dwt Dutch general cargo ship, ran aground in the Canadian Arctic over the weekend. The ship ran into difficulty while transiting the remote Franklin Strait with Canadian authorities quick to attend the scene.
At around midnight UTC, the ice-class freighter grounded on its transit from Lianyungang, China, to Baie-Comeau, Quebec, becoming stuck near Prince of Wales Island. The crew is safe, and there’s no pollution reported thus far with the fuel tanks and holds remaining intact. However, some of the ballast tanks have ruptured, according to the coast guard.
Within nine hours, the ice-breaking buoy tender CCGS Sir Wilfrid Laurier reached the site with another icebreaker due on site today. Salvage operations are joined by the heavylift Miena Desgagnes, repositioning to assist.
Salvage experts are currently assessing the damage and coordinating a safe refloating strategy. No firm date has been declared.
The Franklin Strait is an Arctic waterway in Northern Canada’s territory of Nunavut. It is named after the English explorer Sir John Franklin, who perished in these waters on his lost expedition.
