The Detroit River was the scene of a significant shipping incident this past Thanksgiving, as the Canadian-flagged freighter Robert S. Pierson found itself lodged in the waterway near downtown Detroit. The 629-foot vessel, carrying a heavy load of 18,000 tons of stone en route from Windsor, Ontario, to Lorain, Ohio, ran aground late Wednesday night, according to a statement obtained by ClickOnDetroit. The U.S. Coast Guard reported receiving the initial distress call at 1:17 a.m. yesterday, with the grounding actually occurring around 10:35 p.m. the prior evening.
In response to the incident, tugboats Minnesota and Ontario were dispatched quickly to assist and successfully managed to refloat the Pierson by noon on Thanksgiving Day. "There have been no reports of injuries, pollution or impact to vessel traffic," confirmed Petty Officer Omar Faba in a statement to the Detroit Free Press. This event marks the second recent grounding of a Canadian freighter in the Detroit River, with the Rt. Hon. Paul J. Martin experienced a similar fate earlier in the month.
The Coast Guard Salvage Engineering Response Team was promptly notified and approved a refloat plan, as a stakeholder meeting was held yesterday to address the situation. FOX 2 Detroit informed the public that the crew was working according to the approved operations to ensure the vessel could continue its journey downstream without further incident or delay.
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