MP calls for improved federal regulations
NDP critic says Transport Canada should act as it did in Saskatchewan derailment
Dozens of tugboat sinkings in B.C. waters highlight the “pressing need” for improved federal regulations around safety, says the NDP federal transportation critic.
“The number of incidents involving small tugboats on our coast calls into question whether the current regulations are up to the task,” said Taylor Bachrach, the New Democratic Party member of Parliament for Skeena-Bulkley Valley.
In response to a recent Postmedia News series on tugboat safety, several B.C. mariners and their families have expressed concern about safety standards in the industry.
The calls for better regulation have intensified since the sinking of the tugboat Ingenika.
In February, captain Troy Pearson and deckhand Charley Cragg died when the tugboat sank near Kitimat. A third man, 19-yearold Zac Dolan, was rescued after he made it to shore. The tugboat, which was 14.63 gross tons, was towing a barge loaded with construction materials for a work site in Kemano.
There was both a gale warning and an icy spray warning in effect that day.
Since 2016, there have been 350 accidents involving tugboats or barges in B.C., including 24 sinkings and two fatalities, according to data collected by the Transportation Safety Board.
There are 1,263 tugboats, including boom boats, licensed in B.C.
British Columbia's tugboats play a critical role in many of the province's coastal industries, including forestry, mining and shipping.
Despite this, Canada has fallen behind other countries in terms of regulation, said marine architect Robert Allan, whose Vancouver company, Robert Allan Ltd. Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, designed six of the 14 tugboats that recently helped free the grounded container ship MV Ever Given in the Suez Canal.
After a raft of fatal tugboat sinkings in the 1960s, the federal government created a new set of regulations to govern the industry, setting up a system based on the internal volume of the boat.
Tugboats more than 15 gross tons were subjected to annual inspections, which added to maintenance costs and took the boat out of service for a short time, while those under 15 gross tons were not.
“This created huge incentive for owners to build boats just under 15 gross tons,” said Allan.
The Transportation Safety Board has been calling on Transport Canada to make safety management systems (SMS) mandatory on all vessels, including tugboats under 15 gross tons, for almost a decade.
SMS is an internationally recognized framework that allows companies to identify and address safety risks.
Others, including some tugboat companies, want the tug-to-tow ratio regulated so small tugboats cannot be permitted to tow large barges.
Postmedia News requested an interview with federal Transportation Minister Omar Alghabra, but a spokesperson said he was “unable to accommodate” an interview.
In an emailed statement, Sau Sau Liu said the federal government is working on a number of “new regulatory projects” that will apply to all vessels, including making SMS mandatory.
The regulations are “targeted for pre-publication in Part I of the Canada Gazette in fall 2021,” which is the standard process for introducing a new regulation, said Liu.
Bachrach said Transport Canada should act in the interim.
Bachrach pointed to interim measures enacted by previous transportation minister Marc Garneau to order all trains carrying a significant amount of dangerous goods on federally regulated railway lines to slow down after a crude oil train derailment in Saskatchewan in February 2020.
The order was made in the interest of safety just a few hours after the derailment, despite anticipated economic impacts.
It was later revised after consultation.
“I believe the minister has an opportunity to do something similar here and put some kind of interim measures in place,” said Bachrach.