Report from The Canadian Transportation Safety Board has highlighted regulatory failures that allowed unregistered, unflagged and uncertified OceanGate companies titanium submarine that served for years in St. John’s in Newfoundland before it exploded during a tourist trip to the shipwreck Titanic in 2023
“When did it happen? titanium“, critical information existed in many federal government organizations, but no one was responsible for connecting the dots,” TBS chairman Yoan Marier says in a statement. “No full picture of the operation titanium continued to operate in Canada without regulatory oversight.”
OceanGate has contacted the Canadian government for the first time titanium it was still undergoing final assembly in Everett, Washington. In May 2021, Fisheries and Oceans Canada unveiled a plan to pay the company $25,000 to support deep-sea ecosystem research during missions to Titanic next year. However, Global Affairs Canada denied OceanGate a research permit after the company incorrectly stated that Fisheries and Oceans would be its sponsor.
The titaniummaiden voyage to Titanic The next month ended in failure as one of the titanium domes fell off and the ship carrying the submarine Arctic Horizonreturned to St. John’s. But before any of the disappointed passengers who had paid more than $100,000 to view the wreck could disembark, the ship was directed to a protected exclusion zone in the port. There, a team of armed Canadian Border Security Agency officers boarded Arctic Horizon. They questioned passengers about Covid-19 precautions and their role during the dives.
“They were extremely intimidating,” passenger Gary Philbrick tells WIRED. “I couldn’t get off the ship fast enough.”
Agents also questioned why OceanGate was operating without a research permit. David Concannon, a lawyer who has worked with OceanGate in the past, told them that titanium would only dive in international waters, and the agents left. “There was zero interest in the submarine. Absolutely none,” he tells WIRED. “They were there to look at documents.”
That’s true, says Etienne Seguin-Bertrand, an investigator for the Transportation Security Board: “As long as the submarine was properly imported and all applicable duties paid, it was not their responsibility to make sure it was properly registered and safe.”
Another agency, Transport Canada, is responsible for overseeing compliance with regulations for all ships, including submarines. These include registration, flag or certificate requirements for ships, especially if they are carrying passengers. May inspect ships and, if necessary, carry out checks. But Transport Canada decided that titanium was actually a part of it Arctic Horizoncargo and is therefore not an inspectable vessel.
In July 2021, a researcher from Fisheries and Oceans Canada flew another OceanGate mission as an observer. They reported carbon fiber titanium it has not been approved or certified by any regulatory body and was not covered by insurance. Their concerns, however, never reached the Transport Canada team that oversees maritime safety report does not explain where the disconnection occurred. Fisheries and Oceans never implemented its funding plan titanium missions.
As OceanGate continued operations from St. John’s in 2021 and 2022, titanium made successful dives to Titanic and several locations in Canadian waters. Ultimately, the company contacted a total of 10 Canadian federal agencies, including Parks Canada, the Department of National Defense and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. However, the company’s activities were never directly reported to the maritime safety team. “In terms of those responsible for maritime surveillance, the focus was on the Canadian support vessel,” says TSB investigator Jason Melvin.