Commercial freighter runs aground in the Northwest Passage

A commercial freighter with 16 people on board ran aground in the Northwest Passage earlier on Saturday, search and rescue officials have confirmed.

Passengers aboard other ships in the area alerted Cabin Radio to the presence of a stricken vessel on Saturday morning.

David Lavallee, a public affairs officer speaking on behalf of the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre based in Trenton, Ontario, said the ship had run aground in the Franklin Strait, which lies between Prince of Wales Island and the Nunavut mainland.

CCGS Sir Wilfrid Laurier, a Canadian Coast Guard light icebreaker, is making its way to the scene in response and is expected to arrive on Sunday morning.

A second commercial vessel has also been redirected to the scene and is “standing by to assist if necessary,” Lavallee said by email on Saturday evening.

The condition of those on board was not given and nor was there an immediate sense of the environmental impact of the ship running aground, if any.

An update from federal officials is expected on Sunday.

While the identity of the vessel at the centre of Saturday’s incident was not provided, marine tracking data suggested the Thamesborg, a freighter making its way from China to the Quebec port of Baie-Comeau, had been motionless in the Franklin Strait for most of the day.

A second commercial vessel, the Miena Desgagnes, could be seen drawing close to the Thamesborg and holding position nearby as the day went on.

The Thamesborg’s cargo is not clear. The 12-year-old, 173-metre-long ship is reported to have left the Chinese port of Lianyungang, between Beijing and Shanghai, in mid-August, and was due to arrive in Baie-Comeau, on the St Lawrence River, on September 15.

Update: Owners of ship aground in Northwest Passage say crew OK, no spill

The Northwest Passage is increasingly opening to freight and passenger cruise traffic as the climate changes, though the change is also introducing navigational complexities as ice patterns evolve.

With more shipping traffic have come concerns about the possible environmental consequences, including the prospect of maritime disasters like those seen in other oceans.

The effects of climate change in the Arctic are, in some cases, occurring up to four times faster than shifts experienced elsewhere on the planet, scientists have said.