LNG tankers don’t pose same spill risks as bunker-fuel ships

Environmental risks to Vancouver harbour from ships carrying liquefied natural gas can’t be compared to the danger of ships operating on bunker fuel that have been allowed to refuel in English Bay.

A small oil spill from the MV Marathassa in April fouled beaches around Vancouver and on the North Shore. Risk-assessor Eoin Finn is raising concerns that a catastrophic fuel spill is “certain” to occur when enormous Cape-class freighters begin refuelling by bringing bunker-fuel barges alongside while they’re at anchor in English Bay.

But LNG tankers run on the product they carry, said spokesperson Jennifer Siddon of the proposed Woodfibre LNG plant near Squamish.

“LNG carriers are typically dual fuel,” she said. “They run off what is called ‘boil-off gas’ or the methane in their cargo tanks. They only use bunker fuel as a backup fuel.”

That backup fuel, which is loaded into the LNG carrier at its home port, usually totals from two to three thousand tonnes.

Refuelling barges can carry up to 3,500 tonnes of fuel oil, but won’t be used in Vancouver with LNG carriers.

Siddon said LNG carriers are double-hulled and will be escorted by three tugs. One will be tethered to the vessel.

The LNG carriers going to the Woodfibre project, which carries a capital cost of $1.7 billion, won’t be anchored or ‘bunkered’ in either Howe Sound or English Bay.

Siddon downplayed the environmental risk of LNG.

“LNG, if spilled, turns into gas and dissipates. LNG will not mix with water. There is no cleanup associated with the unlikely event of an LNG spill.”

The Woodfibre project is also smaller than the projects proposed for northern B.C.