in the St. Lawrence River has been freed by Coast Guard tugboats.

The Canmar Triumph , a 177-metre container ship, was pulled free by 5.00 p.m.

It blocked shipping in the river northeast of Montreal for most of Saturday afternoon. The ship, loaded with truck and rail cargo containers, got stuck in the river near Varennes, Quebec, soon after leaving the port of Montreal.

Coast Guard official Francois Miville-Deschenes said the ship's engines had failed and the rudder became snagged on a rockbed on the river bottom.