OTTAWA — The federal government has awarded a contract for the dismantling of an abandoned ship on the south shore of Lac St-Louis at Beauharnois, Que. and rehabilitation of the embankment and shoreline.
The dismantling of the Kathryn Spirit will lead to its permanent removal from the shore of Beauharnois, located south of Montreal.
The presence of the ship has been viewed as an environmental and safety hazard, a media release indicated. The 50-year-old ship was operated as a merchant vessel under the Canadian flag for many years before it was towed to its current site in 2011. It was subsequently sold to a Mexican company that had intended to tow it to Mexico and dismantle it there but the Mexican firm declared bankruptcy in 2015, leaving the ship abandoned.
The $11-million contract, awarded to Kathryn Spirit DJV, a joint venture between Excavation Rene St-Pierre Inc. and Englobe Corp., includes full dismantling of the vessel, removal of the temporary embankment built in the winter of 2017 and rehabilitation of the site to its original state.
Dismantling of the ship is expected to be completed in the fall of 2018 with the embankment removed by the winter of 2018–2019 and the site rehabilitated by the fall of 2019.
Since 2016, the federal government has taken measures to ensure that the Kathryn Spirit does not pose an environmental risk, by initially adding cables and barges to help stabilize the vessel, prior to building a protective embankment that isolated it from the marine environment.
The Kathryn Spirit contract was awarded following protocols included in the federal Oceans Protection Plan, announced in November 2016. The strategy aims to reduce abandoned, derelict and wrecked vessels and minimize the associated risks of environmental harm, notes the statement.
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