There is another call from Owen Sound officials to get the City Harbour dredged.
This comes after the fully loaded Lower Lakes Transportation company grain boat the Ojibway ran into a sand bar and became stuck while entering the harbour Tuesday morning.
The ship was grounded for almost five hours before it managed to break loose by shifting the engines backward and forward.
Owen Sound Mayor Ruth Lovell Stanners says this underscores the urgent need to get the harbour deepened and again she has expressed her frustration at the federal government’s reluctance to do the work.
She says council has had concerns for years about the fact the harbour is not deep enough for fully loaded ships to safely navigate and after this grounding she suspects the shipping industry will be concerned as well.
Lovell Stanners says with something like this happening, this will surely get the government’s attention and finally they will make an effort to begin work on the harbour.
She says it’s the sensible thing to do.
Mayor Lovell Stanners says she would have rather have had the money used to erect the so called anti terrorist fence around the abandoned cement elevator spent on deepening the harbour.
She adds while the city continues to talk to Ottawa about eventually taking over control of the harbour — there is no way that will happen until the federal government dredges the harbour.