MV Ancier owner fined for 2024 fuel spill in Charlottetown Harbour, documents show

The owner of the MV Ancier has been fined for a fuel spill that happened in Charlottetown Harbour two years ago, CBC News has learned.  

The former passenger-vehicle ferry, once known as CTMA Vacancier, spent 17 years travelling between the Magdalen Islands and Montreal.

On Jan. 14, 2024, the ship docked at Charlottetown Harbour before sailing out to be scrapped in India. 

While it was being refuelled, some of that fuel spilled into the waters of the harbour. Containment and cleanup efforts began. 

At the time, nearby residents said they could smell a strong odour in the Hillsborough River and could see an oily sheen on the ice and water.

CBC News has learned the vessel was eventually charged with three violations under the Canada Shipping Act, and that its owner was required to pay a penalty of $17,850.

Transport Canada’s website shows the vessel was sanctioned for discharging a prescribed pollutant and for failing to properly record and report prohibited discharge from the vessel. 

Following the spill, CBC News asked several federal departments for information about exactly what happened, how much fuel had spilled and whether any had been recovered. 

While some information about the incident and cleanup was provided, the government did not confirm how much fuel may have been released from the ship. 

‘It can be toxic’

CBC News filed a federal access to information request to find out more about the incident, and received 840 pages of documents, some of which don’t relate to the Ancier. 

According to those documents, a flight over the harbour on Jan. 17, 2024, showed a sheen of approximately 150 litres of diesel on the water.

The Canadian Coast Guard said on Jan. 19, 2024, that about 167 litres of “non-recoverable fuel sheening” could be seen from the air. 

But the documents provided show 1.3 metric tonnes, or 1,530 litres of fuel was “potentially released.” They also show a discrepancy of two metric tonnes (2,353 litres) between the fuelling company’s records and the vessel’s.

The documents describe the fuel as diesel, though in its initial responses in 2024, government referred to the fuel as dyed marine gas oil. 

Sierra Club Canada, a national non-profit that works to protect the environment, said when a substance like diesel spills into waterways there are immediate issues to consider — and knowing exact amount is important.

“Some of the things you’re concerned about with oil in general — and diesel actually is the most toxic form of oil — is, of course, if fish or shellfish consume it directly, it can be toxic to them,” said Gretchen Fitzgerald, the club’s executive director.

She said diesel is a light fuel, making it difficult to recover because it tends to disperse quickly or evaporate. There’s also a chance it can get into the soil of wetlands or eelgrass beds, said Fitzgerald, and it can kill plant life and threaten anything living in those environments.

At the time of the spill, there was concern from the P.E.I. Shellfish Association about the potential impact on the area’s wild oyster and quahog fisheries. 

But during inspections along the Hillsborough River on Jan. 17, 2024, provincial environmental officers said they found no impacts from the spill. 

“One of the key things is transparency and openness from the beginning,” Fitzgerald said. “So you can figure out how much was spilled, what was the extent of the damage and … how much compensation will need to happen.”

CBC News reached out again to Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Environment Canada and Transport Canada to find out if there was ever a definitive answer as to how much fuel leaked during MV Ancier’s refuelling. A statement referenced only the amount of diesel recovered from the ship and what was estimated from the sheen on the water when viewed by air.

CBC News also attempted to contact the registered owner of the vessel, a company in Singapore.

Emails were not returned, and when reached by phone at the number listed, we were told the company was not aware of the MV Ancier. They gave us a different phone number, a call to which went unanswered.

The MV Ancier itself arrived in India, and is likely now scrap metal.