Oil Tanker Numbers in Vancouver Port Jump 1000%

Aug. 21, 2024

Trans Mountain pipeline expansion drives 900 per cent increase in tanker traffic

The number of oil tankers travelling under the Lions Gate Bridge and into Vancouver harbour has increased from around two a month to around 20 since the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion was completed, according to a local researcher.

David Huntley has been monitoring tanker traffic for several years and every few months publishes a record that details the name of each oil tanker that arrives in Vancouver, where it comes from and where it is headed. He uses marine traffic and vessel finder websites to track the ships.

In a missive dated Aug. 1, Huntley says, “Attached is my latest report on tankers at the Westridge Marine Terminal. It is delayed because I have been overwhelmed, trying to follow two dozen tankers.

“There continued to be two tankers a month until TMX was declared open for oil on May 1st. For June and July the rate has been about 20 a month.”

Huntley said some loaded tankers are going to California, as they often do, but more are going to Washington state now.

Some are going directly to China and others have gone to South Korea, Japan and Brunei.

He said some tankers are headed to an area of water southwest of the Mexico-U.S. border where they transfer the oil to larger tankers that then head to Asia.

At the present rate there will be 250 tankers coming into Vancouver each year.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government spent billions to complete the near-tripling in capacity of the TMX line that runs from Alberta’s oilsands to the Westridge Marine Terminal in Burnaby — giving Canadian producers more access to U.S. West Coast and Asian markets and giving Asian refiners an opportunity to diversify their imports.

[Top photo: Crude oil tankers SFL Sabine, back left, and Tarbet Spirit are seen docked at the Trans Mountain Westridge Marine Terminal, where crude oil from the expanded Trans Mountain Pipeline is loaded onto tankers, in Burnaby on June 10, 2024 Photo by DARRYL DYCK /THE CANADIAN PRESS]