TSB investigates grounding of Anna Desgagnés in St. Lawrence River
Groupe Desgagnes says the sealift vessel is set to leave port this afternoon
The sealift ship M/V Anna Desgagnés suffered "not much damage," after running aground Sunday in the St. Lawrence River, says Groupe Desgagnés.
The cargo vessel was quickly brought to port and the vessel is expected to be released by late afternoon, said Benoit Chassé, a vice president with the company.
"The vessel will be released shortly and there should be no further impact because there's no damage to the hull. There's no other damage to the vessel that were sustained by this incident."
Chassé says the vessel ran into problems because of an issue with a hydraulic steering pump, which has now been sent for testing and replaced.
The M/V Anna Desgagnés is set to deliver goods to Northern Quebec and Nunavut later this month and the company is optimistic that the vessel will make up the lost time.
"At this moment we expect to be able to catch up by steaming faster along the Labrador coast... weather and ice permitting."
Transportation Safety Board looks into cause
Eric Collard, a spokesperson with the Transportation Safety Board, said the incident is being investigated.
"We've arrived on site. We've been on board since this morning," he said Monday.
"We started collecting some information and we will be conducting some interviews this afternoon. We're looking to get as much information as possible."
Collard said the TSB will try and get as much data as it can on the incident, including downloading electronic data from the vessel if it's available and speaking with witnesses or crew.
Collard said he can't say how long that investigation will take.
"It really depends on how much data we can get and how much of the information we can get from the vessel," he said. "I wish there was a sample timeline, but every occurence is different."
The Desgagnés is set to arrive in Iqaluit on July 23.
with files from Elyse Skura