Toolkit: Transporting Oil by Ships

Oil tankers are a persistent presence in Canada’s coastal waters, yet their role in our nation’s oil trade is often misunderstood.

Double hulls are a preventive measure implemented to reduce the risk of ship-source pollution in the marine environment.

Efforts to reduce emissions from ships – including stricter regulations about marine fuels’ allowable level of sulphur – are curbing the use of heavy fuel oil (HFO) in the marine shipping industry.

Not all oils behave the same way when spilled into the marine environment.

There are four response organizations located in Canada.

The term ‘polluter pays principle’ (PPP) is found in many of the guiding conventions, regulations and laws surrounding commercial marine shipping. However, the significance of the principle can be difficult to interpret.

More than half a century after the cargo ship MV Schiedyk sank on Canada’s west coast, 21st century technology and teamwork with First Nations helped to remove an oily hazard from the environment.

Shipwrecks, once lost, are often forgotten, until oil bubbling up to the ocean’s surface reminds us of their lurking threat.

“We must remember the premise of using chemical oil dispersants: Diluting the oil from a surface slick into the water column at sea to reduce its concentration to below toxic levels, enhance its degradation rate, and reduce its probability of reaching shore.” – Kenneth Lee

“Marine oil spill response is always evolving because everyone is trying to improve things.”
– Dr. Heather Dettman

Five years after the Nathan E. Stewart sank, spilling the equivalent of a railcar’s worth of diesel fuel into the ocean,¹ we want to know: could a similar incident happen today and how prepared are we if it does?

The Voluntary Protection Zone implemented to keep commercial ships at a safe distance from the west coast of Haida Gwaii is extended.