Trouble on the high seas

Russian cargo ship laden with bunker oil loses power off Haida Gwaii, towed to shore by US tugboat but leaves ammunition in wake

Gary Park

For Petroleum News

Evidence of the risks associated with moving crude oil tankers in the notoriously stormy waters off British Columbia’s northern coast is rapidly piling up, culminating in the enlistment of a large U.S. tugboat to aid a stricken Russian cargo ship off the west coast of Haida Gwaii.

When the container ship Simushir lost power Oct. 16 in stormy seas it was feared the vessel, carrying a cargo of mining materials and 450 metric tons of bunker oil and diesel, could run aground on Haida Gwaii (formerly the Queen Charlotte Islands).

A Canadian Coast Guard boat Gordon Reid tried three times to attach lines to the Simushir, but all three snapped, prompting a call for aid from the U.S. boat Barbara Foss which secured the cargo ship and delivered it to Prince Rupert for repairs.

Two other vessels, the Canadian Coast Guard’s Sir Wilfrid Laurier and the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Spar, were also on standby to provide assistance, but neither was properly equipped to secure and tow a large ship.

The incident occurred on the last day of a four-day meeting of Haida leaders when one of the leading agenda items had been a resolution to ban tankers off Haida territory.

“It’s kind of ironic that just before we have this conversation this real-life situation (comes) upon us,” said Haida Nation President Peter Lantin, although he did concede that the Coast Guard intervention had likely “averted a catastrophe.”

Although the vessel is not an oil tanker, its difficulties highlighted the relentless argument about the risks posed by Enbridge’s C$7.9 billion Northern Gateway pipeline and the expansion of Trans Mountain’s pipeline.

The two, representing a combined 1.4 million barrels per day of crude bitumen shipments from the British Columbia coast to Asia, would add more than 500 tanker sailings to the area.

British Columbia Environment Minister Mary Pollack said quickly that her province under Premier Christy Clark has been making its case that the Canadian government is not equipped to handle a crude-related marine disaster.

Clark’s government has set five conditions that must be met before it will endorse Northern Gateway, including a “world-leading marine oil spill response, prevention and recovery systems.”

Pollack said the incident involving the Simushir, which was built in the Netherlands in 1998, underlines the need for the federal government to act on British Columbia’s demand.

Roger Girouard, an assistant commissioner with the Canadian Coast Guard, said his main concern was the fuel and diesel oil onboard and the danger of the ship running aground, although he suggested that if the Russian vessel had broken up there would have been an ally in the rough seas and the absence of migratory birds.

Girouard said environmental response assets from government agencies and private industry had been deployed to the area as a precautionary measure.

Lantin, whose community has resolutely opposed Northern Gateway, said the Simushir incident had been a “good training exercise and an eye opener. It really shows us how little we’re prepared,” noting it took 20 hours for the Canadian Coast Guard to reach the scene.

An Enbridge spokesman reiterated the company’s Northern Gateway promises to provide two pilot boats for every tanker leaving the terminal at Kitimat, noting that crude tankers would not be allowed to operate in stormy conditions.

The company is committed to install land-based radar along British Columbia’s north coast as well as new lights and buoys in the Douglas Channel out of Kitimat to help guide tankers.

It also said all tankers will be double-hulled, less than 20 years old and certified by the International Maritime Association.

But the concerns among First Nations, environmentalists and coastal communities have been accumulating in recent weeks based on reports by government agencies and universities.

Documents released by Canada’s Transportation Safety Board show cargo vessels and cruise ships with British Columbia pilots on board were involved in 20 collisions or “risks of collisions” in waters off the province last year.

The information highlighted the fact that although the presence of pilots contributes to the safety of shipping traffic it cannot eliminate the risk of an accident, including those potentially caused by other vessels.

Ben West, a campaigner with Forest Ethics Advocacy and a leading opponent of crude exports from the British Columbia coast, told the Vancouver Sun that “increased oil tanker traffic means drastically increased risk. It’s not a matter of if a spill will happen. It’s a matter of when. So why would we want to bet on even worse odds.”

A separate research report issued in September found that leaking recreational boats and other small craft are more likely to foul British Columbia waters than major spills from tankers.

Two Canadian universities and several federal departments discovered during three years of gathering data from 100 defined “pockets” on the British Columbia coast that vessels other than big tankers - recreational boats, marinas, cruise ships and fishing boats - cause the most spills.

Stefania Bertazzon, a University of Calgary scientist who led the study, speculated that large tankers and cargo ships are not the major contributors to spills because “they are more heavily regulated. They need to undergo port-side inspection and we also believe they are aware of (aircraft) surveillance.”

She said the long-term continual spills from smaller vessels have a “greater impact on the environment than the big catastrophic spills that catch everyone’s attention.”

In mid-July the bulk carrier ship Amakusa Island - with a licensed British Columbia pilot on board - ran aground near Prince Rupert while moving to an assigned anchorage at a coal terminal, ripping a gash in the ship’s hull, without causing any environmental damage.

However, Coastal First Nations executive director Art Sterritt, describing the weather conditions at the time as “very, very good,” said the incident showed human error is unavoidable.

“Mistakes happen and no matter what kind of technology you have or how good your pilots area - all that stuff that Northern Gateway has been throwing at us - people are fallible and accidents happen,” he said.