I believe the current incident happened in Tolmie Channel. Nobody in their right mind would tow that barge through Heikish, but I have towed a smaller barge through there, and hear that others do.
I was referring to that Northland Barge way back when
Or, the view from one spokesperson of one interest group who seems almost disappointed that this incident is resolving quietly and with minimal impact.
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As far as I am concerned this is simply the Heiltsuk Nation demanding yet more political power and by that I mean more M_O_N_E_Y! Because of this non event they will still claim they need vastly more resources to protect their precious ancestral waters, (blah, de blah and adnauseum) even though not one drop of oil was spilled this time. If they don’t get their demands then will come the never ending stream of tirades now US vessels and mariners cannot be trusted and thus they will demand they no longer can safely use the IP even though there is an existing treaty which gives the US right to innocent passage. How dare anyone stand in opposition to the great, glorious and singlehanded savior of the BC Central Coast…William Housty!
The plenipotentiary for fat power drunken slobs everywhere!
Since when is a marine casualty a “non-event”?
I’m not sure I understand the animosity towards the locals in that area. I can assure you if, for example, two Canadian vessels ran aground or sank at both ends of the Vineyard Sound within a period of nine years the people of Massachusetts would be demanding some things too. Native or not.
As to the barge, why don’t these things have remote indications on the tugs for flooding? Seems a simple and fairly inexpensive technology to implement for a little heads up that your tow hit something.
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Please just try to understand the shear volume of US vessel traffic that relies on access to the Inside Passage and that there is no corresponding use of US waters by Canadian flagged vessels vis. this is much more critical for the US than to Canada and they know it.
Everything was really working quite well in this regard until the mate on the tug NATHAN E. STEWART fell asleep and drove his tug and barge onto rocks near Bella Bella in 2016. While there was no catastrophic oil spill resulting from that…the Heiltsuk Nation in Bella Bella immediately seized control of the political narrative which as far as I am concerned will not quit until US vessels are denied use of the Inside Passage. One small and formerly inconsequential group now has seized disproportionate power and created an environment which is making the access US vessels have enjoyed by treaty for far more than a century into an endless circus of more and more draconian regulations to be fulfilled.
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Doesn’t all traffic bound for Southern BC ports inbound from the Pacific use the TSS in the Straight of Juan de Fuca to transit US territorial waters as permitted by innocent passage until the Victoria pilot station? Doesn’t the same apply to a Northbound transit of Haro Straight?
I guess it’s possible to create a secondary lanes completely in Canadian territorial waters but it probably wouldn’t improve safely. I presume that all the ports and industry on Southern Vancouver Is. and the Lower Mainland have way more influence than a native community in a remote part of the province.
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You mean like every other port in the world that at some point in time decided pilotage should be compulsory because people kept running aground? Idk man, their land/water, their rules. I’m sure the Liberian flagged pieces of shit that call in Long Beach or Houston would prefer if the locals didn’t “ seize control of the political narrative” and require pilots too
On the move - just had a look. Tug & Barge are N of Malcolm Isl in Q. Charlotte Str now. Almost home, hopefully without further ado.
Pilotage and pilotage exemptions in British Columbia are controlled by the PPA (Pacific Pilotage Authority) which is a Canadian federal agency.
The Canadian government has a right to control pilotage in Canadian waters however they see fit. If they start to require American tugs to take Canadian pilots, that’s ok. We will adapt
A tiny Indian tribe with a small village in an otherwise vast and sparsely populated area has absolutely no business regulating pilotage or shipping. Their favorite sport is proclaiming their “sovereign rights,” and their most important skill is exploiting white man’s guilt for more money. They can stir the political pot for more money, but that’s about it.
This was a minor incident with very little pollution potential. The barge was apparently holed a day before they noticed she was taking water, but it was never in danger of sinking.
This is not the first vessel to hit a rock in the Inside Passage on its way to or from Alaska over the last 150 years, nor will it be the last. Unfortunate maritime incidents will continue to happen for one reason or another as they always have. That’s just reality.
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Any movement towards mandatory pilotage on the BC IP would find opposition from the Canadian tug industry. The change would affect them too. Having been in meetings with them I can tell you they would not allow it.
Also there are multiple routes on the IP. The route going past Bella Bella is just one. Different routes are used in different weather.
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Well if Seaforth Channel and Lama pass become prohibited waters the forget Fitz Hugh Sound, Princess Royal and Greenville Channels leaving Laredo and Principe Channels as the only viable route. Still plenty of dangers and way more of the route open to fully exposed waters. Isn’t this the route now forced on the oil barges?
I worked on a wire rig 2 decades ago, SF to Anchorage (sometimes stops in Portland and Ketchikan). Our voyage plan initially was several pages of notes for tides, wire length, security calls, etc.. Every deck officer reviewed and signed it. We refined it every trip. Changes in ownership came with changes in reporting. An online fill-in sheet changed the way we reported our voyage plan. A lot of information was lost through that change. Sometimes the changes in shore to vessel reporting are not progressing, but rather, automatizing. There are real challenges on the inside passage that occur near about instantaneously.
Nathan E Stewart tragedy altered the career path for many left coast petro mariners. Like an avalanche of tragedy.
I’m glad the container barge didn’t flounder.
BTW, RIP Captain Sean 
Except don’t Canadian mariners have their own version of holding 2nd class pilotage like the US does for vessels under 1600tons provided they have adequate route familiarity? US mariners need to have a waiver which also is based on trips on the routes but being foreign vessels the Canadians can more easily impose requirements on us then on themselves? I don’t know how they would do this but us Americans are a significant disadvantage to push back especially when the casualties have been with American vessels. The treaty remains but the regulations may become damned near impossible to meet forcing us to the outside. Luckily there was no pollution this time so maybe any upcoming changes won’t be severe but if there had been pollution then you would well imagine holy hell to be falling on our heads soon.
Just need to wait and see what the fallout will be with this latest casualty?
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Never heard of that. I’ve been in PPA meetings with Canadian and American tug officers and the Canadians were commenting the same as the Americans were.
During those meetings the Canadian tug offers expressed the concern that whatever Ottawa imposed on American vessels in BC waters would be imposed on Canadian vessels in WA waters.
The last controversy with the waiver program happened two years back when a very small Canadian tug capsized in BC waters and two (I believe) mariners drowned. I never heard of it in the news. But the accident caused the PPA to shutdown for several months the approval process for adding officers to company waivers. So Canadian casualties are an issue also.
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Just out of curiosity; how many vessels (not only tug/barges and never mind nationalities) have run aground / caused pollution along the IP, or the Strait of Juan de Fuca in US waters in say the last 10 years?
Better still; break it down by flag state and severity of pollution caused.
One more question; how many US companies with pilotage waivers for the IP spend the time and money to train their navigators the way Coastal Transportation do?: Coastal Transportation’s YouTube Series
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That image came from a meeting with the PPA back in 2019. Info presented by a consultant working for PPA. I saved the slide. All I know.
That’s a completely different image
The one I was asking about was one showing the track of a vessel steering right towards Hazard Rock in Sarah Passage and turning late where the barge could easily have swung wide presenting its stbd stern at the danger. If that was a track of the MALOLO it shows someone not situationally aware.
This is a recreation of it from memory so distances might be off but I believe close
No information on allisions?
Sorry, couldn’t help myself.
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