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Marine incident response is on the minds of many these days
following a high profile container incident off of Vancouver
Island. How the Prince Rupert Port Authority would respond
is a subject we explored this week with the Port's Monika Côté. |
With much of the province watching the response to the Emergency of the ZIM Kingson off the Southern coast of Vancouver Island for the last week or so, the North Coast Review got to wondering how any such emergency, as infrequent as they may be, would be handled in northern waters.
The southern incident saw the container vessel lose over 100 containers during the course of rough weather off Vancouver Island, followed by a fire onboard that one point saw the majority of the ship's company evacuated while responders applied suppression work from a range of vessels alongside.
(Video from the Canadian Coast Guard of the fire suppression work on the Zim Kingston)
To find out how the Port of Prince Rupert and its partners might respond to similar situations in our area, we contacted Monika Côté, Manager of Corporate Communications with the PRPA for the 4-1-1 on the plan of action in place for North Coast waters.
From her notes, Ms. Côté outlined the following overview of how any potential southern and northern incident should be viewed.
The ZIM KINGSTON lost its containers in rough seas in the Pacific off Vancouver Island, and later set anchor near Victoria, where the subsequent fire and fire response operation occurred.
The heavy seas and wave conditions that would cause container loss and the subsequent issues would be unlikely in the protected approach from Triple Island or within PRPA jurisdiction/Prince Rupert Harbour.
The incident does the highlight the importance of prevention of and preparation for marine safety incidents. PRPA’s best practices and procedures involve collaboration and coordination with Transport Canada, Canadian Coast Guard, Pacific Pilotage Authority, and vessel masters.
The use of pilots, tug escorts, cargo manifests and permits, and safety measures tailored to cargoes, vessel types and sizes are critical and effective practices used as vessels approach the Port.
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The PRPA vessel Amwaal is one of a number of resources
on hand to address marine emergencies for the Port |
As for a local incident response, Ms. Cote outlined the process that would take place for Prince Rupert area calls for assistance.
With regards to incident response, coordinated incident command responses ensure effective management of incidents, and are primarily led by the Canadian Coast Guard. PRPA’s Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) can lead an incident response or fall under the lead of an external incident commander, depending on the location and nature of the incident.
PRPA’s EOC simulates a wide variety of emergency responses, including an annual exercise that involves multiple external parties, including terminals, government agencies (including the Canadian Coast Guard), private sector services, Indigenous communities, and municipal services.
The north coast’s emergency response capacity has grown as the Port has grown. SAAM Towage’s fleet has significant power and capacity, Western Canada Marine Response Corporation has sophisticated hydrocarbon spill response and capacity, PRPA’s AMWAAL harbour patrol vessel has boundary cooling and fire suppression capabilities, and many operations have higher level hazardous materials expertise on retainer for immediate advisory services and deployment in specific situations.
Even from a container salvage perspective, local services have capacity and equipment available for smaller incidents or to assist larger operations.
It's a fairly expansive review that covers a range of elements that were taken from the Hanjin Seattle incident of 2016, that marine situation taking place in an area quite close to where the ZIM Kingston incident took place last month.
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