Cargo ship runs aground in St. Lawrence River near Morrisburg, Ont.

A large cargo ship remains stuck in the St. Lawrence River after running aground on Saturday afternoon.

The Tim S. Dool, a 225-metre-long lake freighter, became stranded in U.S. waters just east of Morrisburg, Ont. at approximately 12:30 p.m.

The St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation says there were no injuries. There is no reported pollution into the river and the ship is not taking on any water.

The ship is currently stable and remains outside the navigation channel, the corporation said in a statement.

"Work is underway to finalize a salvage plan. An update will follow, once the salvage plan is known," the corporation said.

In an update Monday, it said the ship was carrying Canadian wheat at the time of the incident.

"The cause of the grounding is still under investigation, and there were no other vessels involved," the update said.

The St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation said Tuesday it had no updates on the situation. 

The Tim S. Dool is owned by the Algoma Central Corporation, a Canadian shipping company. The ship went into service in 1967 with a gross tonnage of 18,700.

The company said in a statement that it is currently working on a plan to safely re-float the vessel but could not share more information. 

The ship services the St. Lawrence River and the Great Lakes.

Plans to move ship unknown

There is no word yet on how the ship will be removed from its position, but in the meantime, it has attracted attention from avid shipwatchers.

Dozens of eastern Ontario residents paid a visit to the Crysler Park Marina on Monday, which offers the best vantage point to see the ship on the Canadian side of the border.

"We're very much interested in ships," said Prescott resident Eugene Johnston with his binoculars in hand.

"When we heard about this grounding, we thought we'd come down and see what it was all about. And we're fortunate to find it here this morning."

The Tim S. Dool in the St. Lawrence River on Nov. 25, 2024. The ship ran aground and has been stuck since Saturday. (Jack Richardson/CTV News Ottawa)

Ship watching is a common activity for residents along the St. Lawrence River with cargo ships like the Tim S. Dool frequently passing by. On the rare occasion they get stuck and ship watchers like Nick Wolochatiuk, a resident from Ingleside, Ont., are always eager to get a glimpse of it.

"It's quite interesting. We're regular ship watchers," Wolochatiuk said.

"We had to check out several places before we found out exactly where it was, and this is a good vantage point."

Nick Wolochatiuk, a resident from Ingleside, Ont., is a regular ship watcher and tells CTV News Ottawa that Chrysler Park Marina is a good vantage point from the Canadian side of the border to see the ship run aground.

Chrysler Park Marina is located near the site of a boating tragedy over half a century ago. On July 14, 1970, a vessel crashed into a submerged ridge on the St. Lawrence River, killing nine people.

A ship also ran aground in the river near Cornwall in September 2023, causing delays for over a dozen vessels. The St. Lawrence Seaway is responsible for tens of billions of dollars in economic movement every year.

Cornwall, Ont. resident Sean Mullen says it's the first thing he thought when he heard about the Tim S. Dool being aground.

"It's happened before, here we are looking at it again," he said.

(CTV News Ottawa)

Mullen says he wasn't surprised to hear that it happened because the area can be tricky to navigate.

"Just kind of a bad spot," he said. "Very hard to navigate between here and Morrisburg for the ships because of how many times that they have to turn left to right."

"When you look out here from that last marker to that one, you're talking a couple hundred feet, so they don't have a lot of room to navigate."

With files from CTV's Jack Richardson