Key Takeaway:
- A cargo ship had lost more than 100 containers into the Pacific Ocean after a fire onboard has been cleaned to travel to the Port of Nanaimo in BC.
- Containers were thrown from the vessel during a storm about six weeks ago near the Juan de Fuca Strait entrance.
A cargo ship had lost more than 100 containers into the Pacific Ocean after a fire onboard has been cleaned to travel to the Port of Nanaimo in BC.
Officials stated the MV Zim Kingston was scheduled to leave Constance Bay near Victoria on Friday on a trip expected to take about 11 hours.
They say the Nanaimo Port Authority will unload damaged containers on the ship for its normal operations.
A statement from the command of agencies included in the cleanup operation says precautions were taken for the voyage, including allowing the ship to travel under certain weather conditions.
It says the ship’s owner has also hired a salvage team to be there during the trip to monitor the stability of containers onboard and facilitate firefighting resources.
The ship was accompanied by two tugboats, a U.S. Coast Guard vessel in American waters, and a Canadian Coast Guard lifeboat, a marine mammal watch vessel.
Containers were thrown from the vessel during a storm about six weeks ago near the Juan de Fuca Strait entrance. Around the same period, a fire broke off on the ship.
The unified command says cleanup crews have not found containers from the ship. It means four were found, and there is no proof of the other 105 containers, which are believed to have been thrown.
“The Canadian Coast Guard will continue with the ship’s owner to investigate further steps and assess the feasibility of trying to search the 105 thrown containers,” the statement stated.
It states that the beaches in northern Vancouver Island where debris was found are “now considered clean.” The statement says that Jurassic Point on the northwest coast of Vancouver Island is still being cleared.
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More than 27 tonnes of debris have been removed from beaches so far, which does not include five waste bins still being used or junk at Jurassic Point.
“The shipowner will continue to check the known accumulation sites for debris every few months and remove debris likely from the Zim Kingston,” the statement stated. “The Canadian Coast Guard would also monitor for debris while directing overflights in the West Coast Vancouver Island.”
The coast guard said that the containers had Christmas decorations, appliances, sofas, clothing, toys, car parts, and everyday items. There were two bins containing chemicals used in mining, which were soluble in water and biodegradable, it has been said previously.
Source-CTV News
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