The bulk carrier Whitefish Bay grounded at St Lawrence Seaway channel in Canada. The vessel was en route from St Catharines to Bathurst, but left the fairway and stuck into the rocks at river bottom. The ship was hardly aground and the crew was unable to refloat her by own power. The Master of the bulk carrier Whitefish Bay dropped all the anchors and requested assistance from the local authorities. The vessel suffered breaches below the waterline and some ballast compartments were flooded, but remained afloat and stable. The local transportation safety board has been notified and started preparation of salvage operation.

The traffic at St Lawrence Seaway channel is seriously hampered after grounding of the bulk carrier, but not blocked. During the accident there were no injured people and no water pollution. The authorities started investigation for the root cause of the accident, but presumed that steering gear blocked, which was the the root cause of leaving the fairway and grounding.

The self discharging bulk carrier Whitefish Bay (IMO: 9639880) has overall length of 225.00 m, moulded beam of 25.00 m and maximum draft of 9.00 m. The deadweight of the vessel is 37,690 DWT and the gross tonnage is 24,430 GRT. The bulk carrier was built in 2013 by Chengxi Shipyard in Jiangyin, China. The owner and operator of the ship is Canada Steamship Lines.