Three of four shipping containers chained to the ocean floor at low tide in the Bay of Fundy, off the coast of Walton, N.S., on Sept. 10.Darren Calabrese/The Canadian Press
Transport Canada has ordered a bankrupt tidal power company and a bankruptcy trustee to produce a plan to remove four huge moorings abandoned in the water near Walton, N.S.
The four moorings are made of concrete-filled railcars connected to giant chains, and were to be used for a tidal project by Occurrent Power but were left in the staging area after the company declared bankruptcy Aug. 29.
Transport Canada’s order issued Sept. 10 also asks the company and the trustee to set up buoys to mark the location of the four boxcars located near the community along the Bay of Fundy, about 88 kilometres north of Halifax.
In an e-mail to The Canadian Press, Transport Canada says it has formally determined the train cars pose a navigational hazard to boaters.
When the tides rise in the channel, the four containers are just metres beneath the surface.
Occurrent Power’s executives have not responded to several requests for comment, while the province has said the company’s $20,000 deposit for the project is available to help pay to remove the railcars.
Paul Pettigrew, vice president with bankruptcy trustee MNP Ltd., said in a telephone interview it has received the Transport Canada notice and “does not have an interest in the railcars and has been in discussions with both Transport Canada and the provincial Department of Natural Resources.”
He says it’s expected that the government agency that relocates the railcars will determine the final cost of their removal and then would become a creditor in the bankruptcy proceedings in an effort to recover those costs.
A statement sent to creditors says the firm has $35.7-million in liabilities and assets of almost $14-million.