UPDATE (Jan. 11, 2011): View Enbridge’s current marine response plan Better late than never, I’ve been plugging my way through the marine side of Enbridge’s application to bring supertankers into B.C.’s northwestern waters. Last weekend, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when I saw Enbridge’s huge advert in The Vancouver...

By Alison Bate First published in Maritime Magazine, Fall 2009 UPDATE: Eight-year contract approved on Vancouver docks (May 4, 2011): Vancouver longshore worker Karen Crossan (pictured) stood in the ghostly dispatch hall looking vainly for work on tonight’s graveyard shift. “I’m bored and I am broke,” she said, after...

By Alison Bate It was dark and sleepy as I drove down to Snug Cove at 5:30 a.m. yesterday, but every house had its lights on. I parked the car, offloaded my bike and pedalled across the cool damp field to Snug Cove. I passed walkers with their headlights on as I trundled across the boardwalk and left it outside the library. “It’s...

By Alison Bate When a ship gets into trouble off the remote west coast of Vancouver Island, there are very few rescue services around. The province relies on a commercial tug in the area being able to help out. Currently, major seagoing tugs carry electronic tracking devices so they can be located in real-time on computer charts. This...

By Alison Bate I must admit I was a little surprised not to get a straight answer from Transport Canada at first about the number of tug escorts traveling with condensate tankers into Kitimat. I assumed it was clearly set down in the legislation whether tankers carrying this kind of hydrocarbon mixture required tug escorts and, if so, how...