Imagine if huge gravel trucks were arriving early at some out of town quarry and were allowed to park for free for as long as they wanted, right in front of your house, running their engines non stop and shining super bright lights through the night. Local authorities would put a stop to that pretty quickly. That’s not that far off from what is happening when giant bulk cargo ships anchor on the doorstep of peaceful residential areas of the Southern Gulf Islands, and our government says there is nothing they can do to prevent it.
The concerns include:
- Anchor chains scouring the local seabed and destroying marine life
- Noise pollution from diesel generators running 24/7 and use of heavy industrial equipment
- Bright lighting systems disrupting health & safety of wildlife and humans.
- Pollution if the local air shed from ship engines and diesel generators
- Threat of major fuel spill in the event of a ship dragging anchor in a storm and running aground
Potential Solutions Include:
- Removing bottle necks in the supply chain like poor rail connections, inspection delays and a lack of weather proof loading facilities
- Better tracking of shipping data and commercial contracting details to improve scheduling
- Fees and other disincentives to minimize early arrivals and long stays at anchor before going to port
- Improving anchoring capacity inside the Port of Vancouver
Please help us make change. Send a letter today asking the federal government to stop putting foreign shipping interests ahead of our environment and local residents. You can also join our No Freighter Anchorages campaign by signing up for our newsletter.
