Oil response vessels will be visible in Nanaimo's harbour for a large mock exercise on Thursday, Nov. 13 (WCMRC)

By Ian Holmes

oil response drill

Large oil response drill to be staged for Nanaimo’s harbour

Nov 12, 2025 | 4:11 PM

NANAIMO — No need to be alarmed by oil booms and several large vessels active off Nanaimo’s waterfront; it’s only a drill.

Western Canada Marine Response Corporation (WCMRC) is conducting a Transport Canada-mandated exercise simulating the clean-up of a 2,500-tonne oil spill.

The drill happens on Thursday, Nov 13, from 8:30 a.m. to about 2 p.m., according to WCMRC communications manager Michael Lowry.

“That’s roughly the size of an Olympic-sized pool in terms of volume of oil. This scenario is a bulk carrier at anchor two in Nanaimo Harbour (between Protection Island and Duke Point). We’ll be deploying up to about 12 of our own vessels,” Lowry told NanaimoNewsNOW.

Anchorage Two is one of six deep-sea anchorage slips for large commercial vessels in the Nanaimo Harbour area.

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“We’ve staged it in an area that it’s not going to interfere with any port operations,” Lowry emphasized.

Nanaimo Port Authority and Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) personnel will be providing support roles for the day-long drill.

Mandated by Transport Canada under the federally regulated Canada Shipping Act, Lowry said the exercise is part of a required recertification process.

He said Transport Canada officials will be on site monitoring the drill.

“We need to exercise these large-scale scenarios to make sure we’re ready if one does occur,” Lowry said. “We do get activated roughly about 20 times a year, but typically they are smaller spills.”

WCMRC, along with CCG and Nanaimo Port Authority crews, responded to a notable oil spill in late July 2023 when heavy marine fuel from a docked cargo ship leaked into the ocean.

Significant shoreline clean-up work commenced for several days following the spill.

Lowry stated it was difficult to get an accurate estimate of the July 2023 incident since most of the fuel was trapped in log booms which were removed and disposed of.

Nanaimo is home to one of nine federally regulated oil response bases on B.C.’s coast. (file photo/NanaimoNewsNOW)

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