Crews from the West Coast Marine Response Corporation dealt with a fuel spill in the Nanaimo Harbour, after a cargo ship reported a fuel leak early Wednesday morning. (Chad Hipolito/West Coast Marine Response Corporation)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

marine spill

Cleanup underway after cargo ship in Nanaimo spills fuel

Jul 26, 2023 | 10:42 AM

NANAIMO — Multiple agencies are responding to the Nanaimo Harbour after a fuel spill was reported early Wednesday morning.

Crew from the Maipo River, a Hong Kong-flagged general cargo ship reported the spill shortly before 6 a.m. on Wednesday, July 26 to the West Coast Marine Response Corporation (WCMRC). The ship was docked at the cruise ship terminal near downtown Nanaimo at the time.

Michael Lowry, communications manager for the WCMRC told NanaimoNewsNOW fuel for the vessel began leaking and was detected in the water.

“They had a spill of unknown volume at this point. We’ve got three vessels on scene and three more should be arriving shortly. We’re looking at doing containment right now with the vessel and we’ve begun sweep operations in the Harbour.”

A boom was deployed to prevent fuel from floating away from the immediate area. (Chad Hipolito/West Coast Marine Response Corporation)

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Each response vessel has three or four crew on board and were joined on scene by staff from the Nanaimo Port Authority (NPA) and Canadian Coast Guard.

The Coast Guard later said the spill occurred during an internal fuel transfer while the NPA confirmed the vessel arrived to dock in Nanaimo on Monday, July 24 and was awaiting cargo operations scheduled to begin Wednesday.

Lowry said the Coast Guard will likely take lead on the long term situation.

An incident command post was quickly established at the WCMRC base on nearby Port Dr.

Lowry said they’ve already made good progress in handling the situation.

“The first thing you want to do is make sure the source is controlled…stop the leaking and we’ve been told [the ship’s crew] have done that. The next step is to contain the oil around the vessel, to prevent further oil from getting out into the marine environment so our crews have been working on that.”

Those on scene quickly determined the fuel was not a threat to the coastline or estuaries in the area, and was headed into the inner harbour.

This information allowed booms to be setup effectively, preventing wider spread.

The Maipo River previously docked in Portland, Oregon last weekend and made its way up the coast to Nanaimo.

The Maipo River is a cargo ship sailing under the Hong Kong flag and is due to be docked in Nanaimo for two days. (Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)

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