The Canadian authorities will undertake a significant environmental response operation due to the deteriorating condition of the sunken WWII United States Army Transport vessel, the Brigadier General M.G. Zalinski. The Canadian Coast Guard is engaging and collaborating with partners to ensure that the operation proceeds successfully.

The Brigadier General M.G. Zalinski was built in 1919 and is a United States Army Transport vessel that served in World War II. The vessel ran aground during a storm and sank in 1946 in the Grenville Channel about 100km south of Prince Rupert, Canada.

Already in 2007, the Canadian Coast Guard issued a request for information from the international marine salvage industry seeking the most efficient and effective method to remove the oil from the Brigadier General M.G. Zalinski.

As announced on 18 March 2013, the Canadian Coast Guard is adopting the Incident Command System (ICS) to strengthen its ability to respond to oil spills in the coming years.

The oil and cargo recovery operation on the Brigadier General M.G. Zalinski is large in both scope and significance. The Canadian Coast Guard is leading the operation with support from several other federal government departments. Involved are the Canadian Coast Gueard, Environment Canada, Health Canada, Transport Canada, Public Works and Government Services Canada and the Department of National Defence, overseeing their respective responsibilities such as testing the water quality, marine safety, contract handling and potential threats related to unexploded ordnance.

On 26 July 2013, Public Works and Government Services Canada posted two requests for proposal seeking a third-party to conduct the oil removal operation using a process called hot tapping and a response organisation to assist in the event that any oil leaks from the vessel as the operation progresses.

The red sections in the image above represent the fuel tanks of the Zalinski; the possible locations for hot tapping of the vessel. The yellow sections represent the cargo holds. The Coast Guard estimates that the operation will take up to 90 days; this will also depend on selected contractors and weather.

The Coast Guard intends to remove as much oil and as many pollutants as possible from the vessel. (Spill-international, Edited by Topco)