NYK’s first LNG-fueled car carrier, the Sakura Leader, arrived at Ceres Terminal in the Port of Vancouver on its maiden voyage this week.  The ship will be one of the world’s largest pure car and truck carrier (PCTC), capable of transporting 7,000 units, beginning with vehicles produced by the Toyota Motor Corporation.  

NYK is positioning LNG fuel as one of the transition-solutions until future zero-emission ships are realized.  The Sakura Leader is the first in NYK’s fleet and plan to switch its operating ships to LNG-fueled vessels.  A second LNG-fueled PCTC will be delivered in 2022, and an LNG-fueled coal carrier will be delivered in 2023.

By switching fuel to LNG and modifying vessel design, ships can become about 40% more energy efficient (by reducing CO2 emissions per unit of transport). These new LNG-fueled vessels are also expected to reduce sulfur oxide (SOx) emissions by approximately 99% and nitrogen oxides (NOx) by approximately 86% compared to ships using conventional heavy oil–fired engines.

Haisla Nation Council recently voted to approve a partnership agreement for the Cedar LNG project with Pacific Traverse Energy (PTE), a Vancouver based energy infrastructure development company and Delfin Midstream, an LNG export development company specializing in low-cost floating LNG technology. The project will be a floating natural gas liquefaction facility and is seeking to be the first majority Indigenous-owned LNG export facility in Canada, the majority stake being owned by Haisla Nation. The project has started the environmental assessment process and will be subject to both a provincial environmental assessment and a federal impact assessment.

Northern Health Public Health has declared a COVID-19 outbreak at the LNG Canada Project Site in Kitimat, BC, where JGC Fluor (JFJV) is the prime contractor, after finding evidence of COVID-19 transmission among staff working at this location. To date, 14 employees have tested positive for COVID-19. Thirty-two employees remain in self isolation at the site, and all other with potential contact are isolating in their home community. The outbreak declaration will be in place for at least 28 days.

Cowichan Tribes are adding their support to the Private Members Bill tabled in Ottawa last month calling for a ban on ships anchoring in the Southern Gulf Islands. The Chief asserts that vessel traffic and anchorages in the inside waters and narrow passages between islands pose an unacceptable risk to the ecological integrity that sustain their food resources. Last month, Cowichan-Malahat-Langford MP Alistair MacGregor introduced a Private Member’s Bill in Ottawa to amend the Canada Shipping Act to prohibit the anchoring of freighters along the Salish Sea.

The Victoria Hospitals Foundation has received a $2.65M donation to help build a high acuity unit (HAU) at Royal Jubilee Hospital. The donation comes from Seaspan Victoria Shipyards and the Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation. A HAU provides a high level of care for patients and is generally used as a transition unit between intensive care and acute care. In total, $7 million is needed. So far, the hospital foundation’s fundraising campaign has raised roughly 65 per cent of that goal. To learn more about the fundraising campaign, or to donate, visit the Victoria Hospitals Foundation website here.

The Mission to Seafarers along with partners Stella Maris and the Ministry to Seafarers has seen a real increase in the needs of seafarers since March 2020 and sought to respond to that by shopping for them, chips and chocolate but also, vitamins, earphones, jackets etc., providing reading material such as novels, magazines, bibles and other devotional material and lots of jigsaws.

There has been a real need from seafarers to talk to someone and to be prayed with and for. Centres have remained open since July to those who can come ashore with free Wi-Fi being a lifeline to some. On the more limited ‘gangway’ visits they have brought on ‘care packages’ with comfort food, guidelines for shore leave, reading material, centre hours, contact information.  For Christmas the Mission will be visiting ships at anchor then on berth to deliver gift bags. This has all only been possible with the support of corporate sponsors, churches, grants, and other individuals. For more information, click here.

The Minister of Transport, the Honourable Marc Garneau has announced a collaboration with the Canadian marine community for the establishment of the National Seafarers’ Welfare Board. The Board will act as a forum for coordinating seafarer welfare in Canada, promote seafarers’ access to recreational, cultural and medical services, as well as shore-based welfare facilities. The Board will also advise the government on policy and regulatory issues such as shore leave and crew changes. Members include representatives from labour unions, marine missions located in ports across the country, ship owners, terminals, ports, and agents representing foreign vessel owners in Canada. Transport Canada will act as a Secretariat providing coordination and support for the Board’s meetings and activities.

On November 14, the proposed Marine Safety Fees Regulations was published in the Canada Gazette with a 60-day comment period. The proposed Regulations seek to modernize and simplify the fee schedule for the delivery of Transport Canada’s services under the Canada Shipping Act 2001, and more specifically the Cargo, Fumigation and Tackle Regulations and the Board of Steamship Inspection Scale of Fees. The proposed Regulations cover fees amendments for the following:

• Mandatory inspections of grain, timber deck cargo and concentrates for export;
• Verification of shippers’ procedures;
• Inspections relating to bulk and/or packaged dangerous goods;
• Tank washing inspection; and
• Rescinding detention orders issued by after Port State Control inspection.

The complete regulatory text is available here.

At the IMO Marine Environment Protect Committee (MEPC) a proposal for a new technical and operational measures that would require ships to reduce their carbon intensity was approved. Draft amendments to the MARPOL convention will be put forward for formal adoption at MEPC 76 in 2021.  Details on the measures can be found the IMO website. The International Chamber of Shipping is hoping its proposal for a USD $5B fund to accelerate R&D of zero-carbon technologies will be accepted. Further guidance on the issue will be issued at the conclusion of MEPC 75.

An estimated 400 seafarers and roughly 2 million tons of coal are stuck on ships off the northeast coast of China, as a diplomatic dispute between Australia and China verges on turning into a humanitarian crisis. At least 21 bulk carriers are anchored off the Port of Jingtang, unable to offload their Australian coal cargo. Fifteen of the ships have been waiting since June, with the remainder delayed at least four weeks. China customs is not clearing the cargo, and crew is not being allowed to get on or off the vessel, with covid-related protocols being blamed.

Singapore-headquartered start-up F-drone has reported that it has successfully completed the first commercial night drone delivery to a ship. The delivery was made on November 1 when a drone delivered a 3D printed critical part weighing 3 kilograms over 5 kilometers within 7 minutes. Delivered to the Berge Sarstein, owned by Berge Bulk, the payload was the world’s first 3D printed CE-certified Lifting Tool from Wärtsilä, sent in partnership with Wilhelmsen Group.