Canal traffic delayed by powerless vessel

An engine issue caused an oceangoing vessel to hit a ship arrester in the flight locks on the weekend, delaying at least three other vessels in the Welland Canal.

St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp. spokesperson Andrew Bogora said Federal Rideau , owned by Montreal-based Fednav, couldn’t slow as quickly as it would have otherwise when entering Lock 5 East.

“It contacted the ship arrester … it kept the ship in place. It did its job.”

A ship arrester, Bogora said, is a steel cable that is put in place by a steel arm inside the lock. It’s lowered across the lock chamber and locked into place before a vessel is in its final mooring position.

“They are put at the bow or the stern depending on whether the vessel is upbound or downbound.”

Upbound vessels in the Welland Canal are those headed from Lake Ontario to Lake Erie, while downbound are those headed from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario.

Bogora said in many instances arrester cables are lowered at the bow and stern of vessels in the locks.

The arrester had to be replaced after the incident.

What caused the delay, said Bogora, was the nearly 200-metre-long vessel had to be inspected before being authorized to move through the canal.

He said there was an unusual delay as the seaway authority waited for a member of the Classification Society — a non-governmental organization that establishes and maintains technical standards for the construction and operation of ships — to come and inspect Federal Rideau’s engines.

The ship was eventually cleared after sitting in the lock for an extended period of time.

“It did back up traffic in the

system,” Bogora said.

He also said the seaway has been having issues with valves in Lock 5, which are causing the lock to fill up a bit slower than usual.

“We’ve changed the calibration of those valves … once we have the winter shutdown, they will be replaced.”