Some residents of B.C.’s Southern Gulf Islands are raising concerns about the growing number of vessels anchoring in the region due to congestion at the Port of Vancouver.
It comes as the port holds a series of consultations with island communities about a pair of proposed mechanisms aimed at reducing conflict.
There are currently 33 commercial vessel anchorages between Cowichan Bay on Vancouver Island and Gabriola Island, designated for ships waiting to load or unload at the port.
Concerned residents say these anchorages amount to an overflow parking lot, and the busier they become, the greater the chance of an environmental impact.
“This summer we had one ship in Cowichan Bay for 84 days,” said Peter Holmes with the Cowichan Bay Shipwatch Society.
“And they spread this all through the islands now — so, it’s impacting even more communities … and we believe that it is time to impose and make a statement about keeping them out of here.”
This week, the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority is holding open houses on Pender Island, in Cowichan Bay and in Ladysmith, where residents are being asked to weigh in on a draft “anchorage code of conduct” for vessels and the port’s approach to information sharing and complaint resolution.
“We really want to develop a system that is going to work for the communities,” port authority harbourmaster and director of marine operations Shri Madiwal told Global News.
“Because we do understand the impacts on the communities and the environment, and we want to make sure that whatever system that we develop takes into account those impacts and provides those mitigating measures.”
Madiwal ascribed the growing number of ships requiring anchorages to a variety of factors, from supply chain issues and last year’s storm to growing trade and safety.
The port authority is currently considering a $3-billion plan to build a large, new, three-birth container terminal next to the existing Westshore and Roberts Bank terminals in Delta.
But critics like Pender Island resident Bruce McConchie, a member of the Plumper Sound Protection Association, say the vessel numbers are out of control, and the port should be trying to deal with the congestion, not make the overflow permanent.
“Around 2009, there was about 27 total ships that anchored in all of the Gulf Island areas — that grew substantially,” he said. “The highest so far we’ve recorded now was 498 ships in 2020.”
“They call it community consultations, but I call it more of a … pretty slick sales and marketing initiative to convince us islanders the fact that, gee, the Port of Vancouver can continue to use these anchorages.”
The increase in vessels has come with a corresponding increase in environmental risk, he said.
The ships are near a protected foraging zone for the endangered southern resident killer whales. They produce underwater propeller and engine noise, they produce carbon emissions while idling at anchor, and they discharge potentially harmful ballast water, he said.
They’re also at risk of damaging sensitive seafloor habitat with anchors and chains, and are at risk of colliding with one another if anchors drag, or of catching fire, he added.
“The port itself needs to be working towards developing the infrastructure, fixing the supply chain, coming up with a proper arrival system so they can work to eliminate these anchorages,” he said. “Their intention right now is to make them permanent, and that’s the scary part for us.”
B.C. Green MLA Adam Olsen, who represents Saanich North and the Islands, said the onus should be on the port to do a better job of managing the arriving and departing vessels to avoid congestion.
He said current conditions sometimes see vessels make multiple trips back and forth between anchorage and port as they are loaded with different products.
“A single ship could be here for several weeks moving in and out of the port inefficiently because we can’t figure out how to manage the supply chains and the port can’t figure out how to manage movement of ships that are using the port,” he said.
“We just keep getting pushed around from one jurisdiction to the next: ‘Oh, that’s their responsibility, that’s Transport Canada’s responsibility, you’re going to have to talk to the port about that.’ Nobody is taking responsibility for this mess.”
Madiwal told Global News the proposed code of conduct and complaint resolution mechanisms would be just one part of a “holistic” solution to the port’s congestion issues, with more items rolling out next year.
He said the port is looking at technology, data management and communication solutions to improve efficiency, with a planned traffic management system to be rolled out sometime in 2023.
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