Fuel Barge Aground and Stranded in Northern Canada, as Arctic Season Closes In

Barge Investigator is understood to have run aground on September 2, 2016, near Toker Point, about 15 km north of Tuktoyaktuk

A fuel barge carrying diesel has run aground in Northern Canada, creating what lawyers have described as a potentially "grave" situation as the Arctic season closes in.

Barge Investigator is understood to have run aground on September 2, 2016, near Toker Point, about 15 km north of Tuktoyaktuk, and has been stranded there ever since.

Details of the incident were revealed in a Coasting Trade Licence (CTL) application made Thursday by law firm Borden Ladner Gervis (BLG) on behalf of Vancouver-based Fathom Marine Inc (Fathom).

CTL's are required to use a foreign or a Canadian non-duty paid vessel for commercial marine activity within Canadian waters.

In the application, BLG says Investigator had been issued a CTL for diesel fuel and lightening operations in and around locations in the Beaufort Sea, Northwest Territories, work for which was being undertaken at the time of the September 2 grounding.

Subsequent unsuccessful efforts to re-float the barge were said to have been made using the vessels Fathom Wave and Kelly Ovayuak.

Salvage crews then arrived in Tuktoyaktuk on September 9, but weather conditions meant efforts to recover the vessel - efforts which were noted to be still ongoing - have continued to be unsuccessful.

BLG says there are no Canadian flagged, duty paid vessels able to be substituted for Investigator, so was forced to lodge the urgent CTL application requesting tug Siku and Barge 180-1 be granted permission to complete the work for which Investigator was granted its CTL, as well as assist in the recovery efforts.

"The circumstances surrounding the grounding of the Investigator and the heavy weather conditions in the region which has hampered refloating operations, as well as the impending close of the arctic season, has created a situation of urgency in which the normal delays of notification cannot be respected," BLG wrote.

"The consequences of not obtaining the requested Coasting Trade Licence would be grave."