Effective date: September 21, 2024
From: Harbour Master’s office
We are writing to inform you of anticipated port congestion caused by the Grain Workers Union serving 72-hour strike notice to Vancouver Terminal Elevators Association and to request your urgent cooperation in adopting near-time arrival for your vessels calling the Port of Vancouver.
The port authority is committed to ensuring available anchorages are allocated transparently and we provide port users with visibility over current capacity, projected demand, and the pending vessel arrival list via our daily anchorage utilization report. You can access this daily report here.
At this time, we give vessels calling terminals that are not impacted by the ongoing labour dispute priority over anchorage assignments. All other anchorage assignments are made at the discretion of the port authority and with consideration to safety, continuity of port operations, and terminal/shipper priority.
To reduce demand on anchorages, terminals impacted by labour action are requested to allow vessels to remain alongside the berth.
Working together to streamline ship arrivals in port or at anchor
To assist in these efforts, the port authority is requesting that port terminal operators confirm anticipated and estimated berthing dates for arriving vessels to ensure available anchorage capacity supports port capacity optimization.
We recognize that vessels may choose to proactively hold offshore, and we encourage supply chain partners to consider offshore areas (i.e. within 12 nautical miles of Buoy Juliet and the entrance to Juan De Fuca Strait) as an ‘arrived’ location for the purpose of the issuance of the Notice of Readiness.
As more is needed to prevent further congestion and delays, the port authority is also asking ship operators calling the Port of Vancouver to take the necessary actions—such as slow steaming—to practice near-time arrival whenever possible.
Prioritizing near-time arrivals will help the port community to:
- Reduce the demand for anchorages and maintain a certain level of port fluidity
- Reduce further port congestion and delays
- Minimize environmental and community impacts
- Support port recovery and resilience following the resolution of the labour action
We apologize for any inconvenience caused by this situation and appreciate your understanding and cooperation. We hope the labour action will soon be resolved so normal operations can resume.
If you have any questions or require clarifications, please contact our 24/7 Operations Centre by phone at 604-665- 9086 or email at [email protected].