A Dutch cargo ship ran aground in the St. Lawrence Seaway near Montreal, blocking the path for other vessels, Canadian media reported Friday. The vital trade route between the Atlantic and the Great Lakes.
The incident took place on Thursday evening when the 138-meter-long ship was sailing to Spainthe engines stopped and it lost its ability to maneuver. The ship's bow crashed into the shore. Currently, due to the lockout in two railway companies in Canada and the resulting suspension of rail transport, the Saint Lawrence Seaway canal is an alternative route for, among others, Canadian grain exports.
There is no road that can bypass the place blocked by the Dutch ship.
The Dutch ship “Heemskerkgracht” blocks the Saint Lawrence Seaway canal near Montreal.Christinne Muschi / Zuma Press / Forum
Waiting for the channel to be unblocked
The 3,700-kilometer-long inland waterway for ocean-going vessels between the Atlantic and the Great Lakes generates $50 billion in economic activity each year and supports nearly 357,000 jobs in Canada and USA. The waterway's locks allow the ship to bypass, among other places, Niagara Falls. An operation to pull the ship from the shallows was underway on Friday. The media quoted a representative of the St. Lawrence Seaway operator, Jean Aubry-Morin, as saying that at the time of the accident there were six ships waiting to enter the canal on Lake Saint-Louis and he estimated that by the time the Heemskerkgracht was towed away, that number could rise to 14.
Main image source: Christinne Muschi / Zuma Press / Forum