One ship per day not a big number

Re: “Stopping pipe might not stop the tankers,” column, April 18.

I enjoyed Les Leyne’s column. It was enlightening, to say the least.

It seems, according to Leyne, that all of the talk about increased tanker traffic caused by pipeline expansion is really about only one ship per day. Judging by recent headlines, I envisioned flotillas of ships leaving the Vancouver area.

Just to check the details, I went to portvancouver.com to confirm their expectations of increased traffic (see “Vessel numbers, now and into the future”). They confirm Leyne’s estimates and further write: “At present, about 3,160 vessels call the Port of Vancouver each year. That’s about nine ships per day. The Port of

Rotterdam in the Netherlands is about 16,000 hectares of land and water — compared to 17,000 hectares for Port of Vancouver — and it sees about 30,000 seagoing vessels per year, or about 80 per day.

“Based on our 2016 analysis, we forecast the number of vessel calls to the Port of Vancouver might increase to about 12 ships per day by 2026. Others are forecasting much higher numbers, but our analysis suggests they are not accounting for the fact that ships are getting larger and more efficient.”

Methinks we protest too much.

Denis Hanson Victoria