Tanker Traffic

Tanker Navigation FAQ

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• Who is responsible for responding to an oil spill?

  Canada has a "polluter pays” principle. Under the Canadian Marine Liability Act, the polluter is strictly liable for oil pollution from ships, including all reasonable costs related to recovery and cleanup.

  In event of a spill, the first point of contact is the Canadian Coast Guard emergency line, which is 1-800-889-8852. The Coast Guard then notifies the Western Canada Marine Response Corporation (WCMRC), the Transport Canada certified and industry funded organization mandated to respond to an oil spill anywhere on the BC coast.

• Who pays for response to an oil spill? Do local municipalities have to bear the cost?

  All vessels calling at a Canadian port must contract with a government-approved spill response organization. Under Canada’s Marine Liability Act the owner of a ship is the responsible party in the event of ship-related oil pollution.

  Currently a total of approximately $1.37 billion is available through a combination of Canada’s Ship-Source Oil Pollution Fund, the International Oil Pollution Compensation Fund and the Civil Liability Convention Fund. There are provisions within these funds to clean up oil spills even when the source cannot be identified.

• What has changed since the Exxon Valdes spill?

  The lessons of the 1989 Exxon Valdes spill in Alaska resulted in significant regulatory changes. The result has been the implementation of considerably stricter regulations that ensure greater safety and a focus on incident prevention.

  Measures taken include:

  • Mandatory double hull construction.
  • Intensive pre-vetting of the history and condition of tankers prior to charter.
  • Separated tanks for ballast water and oil cargo, which means that ballast water is not contaminated by residual oil before its disposal.  
  • Tanker Officers Training Scheme (TOTS) overseen by Intertanko.
  • Tug escorts in restricted waterways.  

  All tankers transiting BC’s inland coastal waters must have two trained Canadian marine pilots. Tankers transiting to and from Port Metro Vancouver carry two senior pilots. In addition to state of the art navigational aids on the ship’s bridge, BC’s pilots also carry a Personal Pilotage Unit (PPU) which consolidates all relevant navigational data on a single computer screen.

• How much oil spill response capacity does the Western Canada Marine Response Corporation have?

  Transport Canada requires a certified oil spill responder to have adequate capacity to respond to a spill of up to 10,000 tons of oil. In fact, the Western Canada Marine Response Corporation (WCMRC) has the physical capacity to respond to a spill of up to 26,000 tons.

• Will the closure of the Kitsilano Coast Guard station affect our ability to respond to spills?

  The Kitsilano station is a search and rescue station, and has never played a role in oil spill response. Vancouver harbour is monitored by two 24-hour centres dedicated to navigation and safety. These are the Vessel Traffic Service Centre and Port Metro Vancouver's Operations Centre.

• How does the merger of the Vessel Traffic Service Center in Vancouver with the Center in Victoria affect our ability to respond to spills?

  Merging the Vancouver and Victoria centres is an opportunity for us to benefit from increased coordination and newer, more advanced technology, such as tidal gauges to measure strength of current, and better radar instruments. There will be no impact on ability to monitor traffic and response to potential spills.

  Moreover, having the Victoria VTS Centre monitor local traffic is not new, as the Victoria centre has historically been responsible for monitoring vessel traffic on the Fraser River. In 2011 alone, the Victoria office safely monitored over 600 deep water vessels on the River.

• What safeguards are currently in place to ensure that tankers can safely navigate Burrard Inlet?

  • All tankers calling on Vancouver are double hulled.
  • All are pre-vetted for operating history and current condition.
  • All are manned by two senior British Columbia Coast Pilots in addition to a fully trained ship’s crew.
  • All are assisted by a minimum of three tethered, high powered tugs commanded by senior captains.
  • Transit of the Second Narrows is restricted to daylight slack water in good visibility.
  • Loaded tankers enjoy priority right of way when in transit.

  In addition, all vessels are required to be in compliance with the International Safety Management (ISM) code.

• How many tankers currently enter Burrard Inlet?

  Between 2005-2011, oil tankers accounted for 1.5% of all foreign vessel traffic. In 2011, 32 crude oil tankers called on Port Metro Vancouver or approximately 1% of all foreign vessel traffic.

• What is the role of Port Metro Vancouver in the Kinder Morgan proposal?

  The role of Port Metro Vancouver is to conduct a rigorous project review to ensure the safe movement of goods through the Port. Kinder Morgan has yet to submit a formal project proposal to Canada’s National Energy Board. If they do, and should approval be granted, the project would then undergo several other permitting processes, one of which is a Port Metro Vancouver Project Permit Review.

• How does the number of tankers in Vancouver compare to the number of tankers in other ports around the world?

  Vancouver is a very low volume tanker port. Currently, there are about 100 crude oil and chemical tankers calling the port each year. If the Kinder Morgan project receives approval, that number could increase to approximately 400 tankers a year. Other well-run ports such as the Port of Rotterdam handles 8,206 tankers a year, while Singapore handle 22,280 tankers a year.

• Will tankers in Vancouver result in an increase of air emissions?

  Between 2005-2011, oil tankers accounted for 1.5% of all foreign vessel traffic. A number of internationally and regional measures are in place to minimise emissions from all marine traffic. 

  • Through legislation from the International Maritime Organization, the North American Emissions Control Area was recently implemented. Within 200 nautical miles of Canada’s coastline, vessels are required to switch to cleaner, low-sulfur fuels. The fuel must have a maximum of 1% sulphur content compared to the global limit of 3.5% sulphur content. In 2015, the maximum allowable sulphur content for fuel consumed on our coastline will be reduced to 0.1%.
  • Also under international regulations, all new vessels are now required to be constructed and certified to a very high level of fuel consumption and low emission efficiency.
  • Together with Seattle and Tacoma, Port Metro Vancouver is a member of the North West Ports Clean Air Strategy under which higher environmental objectives are under constant development.
  • Port Metro Vancouver has also designed the Blue Circle Awards program, which provides financial incentives to vessels that exceed regulated environmental standards.

• Will larger tankers be calling at Port Metro Vancouver as a result of the Kinder Morgan Proposal?

  There are no plans to exceed the current maximum size of tankers calling at Port Metro Vancouver. Due to depth restrictions in the Burrard Inlet, the largest dimension of tanker that can be handled is the Aframax, a medium-sized tanker with a maximum capacity of 120,000 tonnes. Even then, these vessels can load to only around 80% of capacity due to draft restrictions.