Background
Providing safe and unimpeded access to terminals for vessels is a cornerstone of the Port’s mandate. Dredging is often required to ensure appropriate water depth.
Dredging requirements differ depending on location. Burrard Inlet dredging primarily consists of capital dredging works. The Fraser River requires annual maintenance dredging.
The Fraser River is the largest river in British Columbia. It journeys 1,400 kilometres and drains an area of 238,000 square kilometres (one-quarter of the area of the province). Each year when the snowpack melts, millions of tonnes of water, sand, and silt drain into the lower Fraser River in a process called freshet.
During this time, the riverbed changes daily, making it more shallow. To deal with this natural infilling, Port Metro Vancouver carries out maintenance dredging. Without dredging of the lower Fraser River, key shipping channels would become too shallow for commercial vessels to safely access port facilities.
On average, an estimated two and a half million cubic metres of silt and sand is deposited within the deep-sea shipping channel annually – enough to fill Vancouver’s GM Place Stadium.
The Port Authority's maintenance dredging program is designed to balance the annual infill with the amount removed, to maintain the shape of the riverbed. The program is reviewed and monitored externally by the Fraser River Estuary Management Program (FREMP).
Local Channel Dredging Contribution Program
For information on the Local Channel Dredging Contribution Program, please click here.