12 hours Ago By Jeff Pelletier - Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
A team of divers, local workers and a floating crane have been brought in by NEAS Group Inc. to retrieve seven shipping containers that sank to the bottom of the bay near Iqaluit last year. “The purpose of this is obviously to keep the bay safe,” Daniel Dagenais, president and CEO of the sealift company, said in an interview Thursday on the risk the lost sea cans pose to ships and the environment.
The seven containers were among the 23 that fell off a barge into Frobisher Bay on the evening of Oct. 27, 2023. An NEAS worker was treated for injuries following the incident , which is still under investigation by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada.
Many of the containers floated to Tarr Inlet in Apex, where some residents trekked out on the low tide and entered the sea cans. NEAS Group Inc. CEO Daniel Dagenais says he expects all seven sunken sea containers lost in an October 2023 incident to be recovered by next week.
(Photo by Jeff Pelletier) Dagenais said shipping containers are “typically” but not “indefinitely” waterproof. Although they are closed with rubber sealing, they can take in water and sink. Work to locate the lost containers began during the summer when the ice melted.
NEAS hired Iqaluit company Sedna ROV, which works with remotely operated vehicles, to survey the waters with sonar equipment to identify “areas of interest,” Dagenais said. The lost containers settled at depths of between nine and 45 metres, he said. Work began Sunday with the crane and rescue divers who were flown in.
“[We] started our salvage operation basically going back to the site, locating the containers, hooking on balloons to the container in order to make the container a bit more buoyant, and then bringing the container back to the surface, and then carrying it over to the [port],” Dagenais said. “If the location of the container is really deep, then the diving time or the accumulated diving time is very low, so we only have a window of a few hours to actually work.” One container was removed Wednesday and two more were expected to be taken out Thursday.
Dagenais said he expects the remaining four will be retrieved by the end of next week. Two federal organizations — the Canadian Hydrographic Service and the Canadian Coast Guard — are also taking part, Dagenais said. “The Canadian Coast Guard is collaborating with the responsible party and continues to monitor the response,” Sam Di Lorenzo, a coast guard spokesperson, confirmed in an email.
Two RCMP officers walk out on the low tide on Oct. 28 2023 following the sealift barge incident the night before. (File photo by Jeff Pelletier) As for the contents of the containers , two are filled with beer and the others have vehicle tires and food such as potato chips and chocolate bars.
Dagernais said he expects the beer and food to be thrown out but the tires might still be usable after nearly 11 months underwater. “Some goods will wind up inevitably in trash because they’re not going to be commercially viable, but otherwise we’ll try to salvage whatever we can salvage,” he said. Following last year’s incident, Dagenais said NEAS has improved its safety procedures and equipment.
He was aboard the NEAS cargo ship Sivumut which was anchored in the bay when the incident happened, and saw the quick response from hunters, boaters and the city’s emergency services when the “man overboard” call was issued. “We believe that [the] 2024 season is a whole lot safer than 2023 because we’ve just learned and grown from that event,” Dagenais said..
