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The MSC Baltic III has been pounded by winter weather and winds in recent months, and officials working on the site say there’s still uncertainty around the vessel a year after it was grounded on the west coast of Newfoundland.
“It’s wide open to the marine environment, wind from any three directions hits the vessel,” Bruce English, a senior response with the Canadian Coast Guard, said Thursday.
“It’s not [looking good], and it won’t get better.”
The Baltic was grounded in Cedar Cove, near the community of Lark Harbour, following high winds and stormy conditions on Feb. 15, 2025. Twenty people had to be airlifted off the vessel, and three people were hospitalized.
Now, a year later, the ship remains where it lay. Damage and visible cracks line the ship’s hull, waves crashing and freezing have coated parts of the ship in ice, and English said the ship’s stern has sunk to the ocean floor.
“As the waves were hitting it on the stern quarter, the vessel was lifting up and dropping again. And it continued to drop and move, or buckle in the centre, until it reached the ocean floor,” he said.
Work was done in the summer months to remove cargo and oil from the ship. English said most of the oil has been removed along with 409 cargo containers — although 63 containers and some residual oil remains.
However, English said that oil hasn’t polluted the ocean.
English doesn’t believe the boat will be able to removed in one piece, but those plans are still in the works. A winning contract bid for the removal process should be announced in the coming weeks.
Lark Harbour Mayor Wade Park said that while the ship has brought some positives to the community over the last year, the constant potential threat to the environment — and the local fishery — looms.
“It’s been a slice having it there and watching the tourism, watching the economic boost in the harbour and stuff like that. But yeah, obviously, it’s got to be gone,” he said.
There was a dramatic rescue on Feb. 15, 2025, and then an impressive cleanup. But the ship remains in the water, and is sinking. The CBC’s Colleen Connors reports on the next steps for the MSC Baltic III.
Park said he has concerns over how the boat will be moved out of the area should it have to be deconstructed. It will have to move over newly constructed access roads and through nearby towns.
“We are definitely worried about the quality of road. Like I said, not only in Lark Harbour, but our neighbouring town, York Harbour, and the whole south shore, Route 450. Obviously, like, it’s not a light object to be taken out, and there is a lot there to be taken away,” Park said.
Timelines for the ship’s removal also remain a question, with Park believing it could ultimately take years.
Other officials, like Mark Dalton of Environment and Climate Change Canada, said work is continuing with federal, provincial and Indigenous partners to help manage one of Canada’s biggest shipwrecks in decades.
“As long as the vessel is here, it poses a threat to the environment. We are always concerned when we are looking at something of this magnitude. We are definitely putting all of our efforts forward to make sure our environment is protected,” Dalton said.
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