Derelict barge owners ordered to pay costs for rescue, rehab

VANCOUVER — The Federal Court of Canada says the owners of a derelict barge in B.C. have defaulted and must pay thousands in costs to the Canadian organization that funds the cleanup of marine pollution.

Patricia Wilson, her company Jacobson Marine and Industrial Design, and co-owner Steen Larsen have been ordered to pay almost $138,000 plus interest to the Ship-Source Oil Pollution Fund.

The fund filed court action to recover its costs after the 60-metre barge Spudnik broke free of its moorings in Howe Sound, north of Vancouver, during high winds in November 2014.

The oil pollution fund’s online file of the incident shows the rusting vessel was adrift and in peril of running aground, potentially spilling some of the 6,500 litres of diesel and lube oil aboard.

Canadian Coast Guard officials hired a tug to tow the barge to New Westminster, where another firm was retained to remove all the contaminants aboard.

Fund administrators paid all the bills by October 2016 and won a default judgment against Wilson and Larsen Tuesday in Federal Court for reimbursement under polluter-pay legislation.

Wilson and Larsen have been found liable for expenses of $137,747 and interest of $3,891.17. Further interest would accrue at a rate of three per cent per year.