A cargo vessel carrying salt has been secured to the upper wall at Snell Lock in Massena this morning after a minor oil leak Wednesday afternoon, according to the St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corp.

Seaway lock crews detected a light sheen of oil at about 3:30 p.m. Wednesday as the vessel — Captain Henry Jackman — departed the Eisenhower Lock downbound, the Seaway said in a news release.

Boom was deployed around the vessel as a precautionary measure and navigation was suspended Wednesday between 6:30 p.m. and midnight while an assessment was conducted by both U.S. Coast Guard and Seaway inspectors.

Three upbound and one downbound vessels were delayed because of the spill.

Inspection personnel from the Coast Guard, U.S. and Canadian Seaways, a representative of the ship’s owner and the vessels classification society are on board investigating the source of the leak.

Thousands of readers like you have made Northern New York Newspapers the number one ranked website* for local news and sports coverage in the north country.

You can continue on to this article in a few seconds, or you can visit one of our websites:

• Watertown Daily Times
• The Ogdensburg Journal
• Daily Courier-Observer