A team is currently onboard the MSC Baltic III, assessing damage and formulating a plan to eventually remove the vessel from Cedar Cove. This comes after days of delays due to harsh weather conditions.

Bruce English is a Senior Response Officer with the Canadian Coast Guard, Marine Environment and Hazards Response. He says the team arrived in Lark Harbour early Sunday morning, and set up a command post.

English says the crew anticipates they will be onboard the ship all day completing their assessment, to see what conditions are like inside the vessel. English says the concern right now is the condition of the bottom of the vessel, as well as the quantity of different types of oils onboard.

The salvage team will complete their assessment inside the vessel, and there is the potential for a dive assessment as well, says English, to determine if there’s any further damage to the body of the vessel.

All of these assessments will need to be complete before there is any attempt to remove the MSC Baltic III from Cedar Cove, says English. Officials say they don’t want to make a bad situation worse, by further damaging the vessel or allowing any oils to leak into the environment.