Steel pilings for Ogden Point cruise ship dock lost at sea
VICTORIA — Two sections of a massive steel piling intended to secure extra-large cruise ships at Ogden Point toppled off a cargo ship during rough weather and sank to the bottom of the sea.
The loss of the piling adds $3 million to $4 million to the initial cost of the project, said Ian Robertson, chief executive of the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority. That money will be coming from the authority.
“I thought someone was pulling my leg,” Robertson said of learning of the accident.
The 200-foot-long sections were built in China and weigh 400,000 pounds each, totalling 362 tons. They went overboard on Dec. 3, about 250 nautical miles from Vancouver, and about a day from the end of a 30-day voyage from Shanghai. The exact location was not immediately available, but vessels arriving from Shanghai typically sail off the west coast of Vancouver Island.
Robertson said the materials were lost during rough seas and that it appears there were problems in securing the load.
The harbour authority was planning a $6.8-million mooring dolphin at Pier B to accommodate Royal Caribbean’s Ovation of the Seas, scheduled to make its inaugural stop in Victoria on May 12. It is working with the cruise line and B.C. Coast Pilots to determine whether the vessel will be able to moor at Pier A South for its first three or four stops of the season, until another new dolphin is in place, Robertson said.
The Ovation of the Seas has been highly anticipated because it will be the largest cruise ship to dock at Ogden Point and because it would moor for a full day, introducing passengers to the region and its tourism offerings. It is 1,140 feet long and can carry 4,900 passengers.
If it cannot be accommodated at Pier A, the vessel will have to moor off Esquimalt Lagoon and it would not be possible to transport passengers to shore via smaller boats, Robertson said.
The lost 10-foot-diameter piling was to be the main component of the new dolphin. It is in waters too deep for recovery.