Tugs free freighter grounded near Vancouver’s Stanley Park

A freighter loaded with grain ran aground Monday just off Vancouver’s Stanley Park, blocking shipping traffic and snarling vehicle traffic as drivers gawked from the Lions Gate Bridge high above.

The Malta-registered Krateros hit bottom at about 4:45 p.m.

“It suffered a major malfunction, causing it to go aground,” said Vancouver Port Authority spokeswoman Grace Battiston. “We don’t know if it’s mechanical, or if it was the rudder that caused it to go aground.”

Three members of the Vancouver branch of the World Ship Society happened to be on the Lions Gate Bridge photographing vessels leaving Vancouver’s Burrard Inlet.