After a prolonged period of dry conditions that helped to turn around grain ships rapidly, storm season arrived this week bringing high winds and seas and copious amounts of rain. As such, safe anchorages were in demand to avoid adverse coastal sea conditions. The significant rain has also slowed down the rate of loading moisture sensitive cargoes. As of Thursday, the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority (VFPA) was reporting that the Port of Vancouver had no available anchorages and that the demand of anchorages exceeded the available anchorages for the foreseeable future. Over 20 grain ships were at anchor waiting to load. VFPA currently allocates anchorages to ships in the Port and in the Southern Gulf Islands. Many industry stakeholders have expressed concerns that there isn’t a long-term resiliency and contingency strategy to manage anchorages considering the Port’s growth projections.
