Ships collide on Welland Canal; investigation underway says Seaway official
Alex Stewart didn't expect his first boat-watching experience along the Welland Canal to include a collision between two vessels on the 43-kilometre long waterway between lakes Erie and Ontario.
But that's what he got - and captured on video - Saturday afternoon in Welland.
I would have never thought I'd see that," he said in a Facebook interview with The Tribune.
Stewart, who lives about an hour northwest of Guelph, was out walking with a friend when they saw McKeil Marine's Florence Spirit appear to drift into the path of dship Carriers' MV Alanis.
The two vessels - the Florence Spirit heading down the canal, the MV Alanis heading up - struck each other on their starboard sides around the anchor port.
In Stewart's video, an alarm is heard sounding before the two vessels hit, then's there's a loud crunch and scraping noise.
The crash was loud ... but coming from a racing background it wasn't that loud," he said.
In the video, the two vessels then stop before the MV Alanis, an ocean-going vessel, is pushed back toward the east bank of the canal and the Florence Spirit heads bow first toward the west bank.
St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp.'s Jean Aubry-Morin, vice president of external relations, said the collision took place at 3:55 p.m. south of Port Robinson and is now under investigation by officials.
Because the collision involved two vessels passing each other, Transport Canada officials were to investigate. Seaway inspectors were looking over both vessels.
Aubry-Morin said the two collided starboard side to starboard side and added there was more damage to the Florence Spirit, which was sitting lower in the water.
Normally, they would be passing port side to port side," he said, adding the area is one where upbound and downbound ships pass each other. Downbound ships are heading to Lake Ontario from Lake Erie, while upbound vessels are heading to Lake Erie from Lake Ontario.
Aubry-Morin said the Florence Spirit was carrying a load of coal and downbound for Quebec.
The website Marine Traffic listed Grand Anse, Quebec as the destination for the Burlington-headquartered McKeil Marine vessel.
The dship Carriers' MV Alanis was carrying a load of wind turbine parts, but there was no destination listed for those parts; dship Carriers has offices in Hamburg, Houston, Tokyo, Mumbai, Shanghai and Singapore.
No one was injured, and there was no pollution. Seaway inspectors were looking over both ships," said Aubry-Morin.
After the collision, the MV Alanis made its way to Wharf 12, the Stone Dock, at Ramey's Bend in Port Colborne, while the Florence Spirit docked at Wharf 10, which sits just east of Bradley Avenue in Welland. Wharf 10 is not publicly accessible.
Dave Johnson is a St. Catharines-based reporter for the Welland Tribune. Follow him on Twitter: @DaveJTheTrib