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Highlights from the November 2011 edition of our newsletter (Issue 187)
METRO VANCOUVER SCENE by Neil England
Please respect the copyright notice at the foot of the page. All material on this website, including photographs, is copyrighted by The World Ship Society of British Columbia, and/or the individual writers/photographers
The month of September bounced back from the slight dip in August ship visits (compared to last year) and finished with a total of 265. This compares favourably to the 264 in September of 2010. At the ¾ mark in the year there have been 2206 ship visits, 60 ships ahead of last year’s pace. September marks the winding down of the Alaska cruise season and there were 10 fewer cruise ship visits in September than August. This was compensated by an increase of 12 bulkers and eight vehicle carrier visits.
NORWEGIAN STAR, September 24, 2011, departing on her last visit of the year; photo taken from Lions Gate Bridge. Ref:WS11-0515.
Holland America’s OOSTERDAM departed Vancouver on October 4th, she was the last cruise ship we’ll see here until late April 2012, unless something unusual happens. Several cruise ships visited the week before, one of them being the NORWEGIAN STAR . We see her in Vancouver only twice a year in May and September during her repositioning cruises, as she schedules her weekly summer runs to Alaska out of Seattle.
On the afternoon that the NORWEGIAN STAR departed, a marine traffic jam of sorts was ensuing. In the space of less than two hours, three cruise ships and five freighters passed under the Lions Gate Bridge. To make matters worse, the sport salmon fishing season was going full bore on the Capilano River. For those unfamiliar with the geography, the mouth of the Capilano River is just a few hundred metres west of the Lions Gate Bridge and First Narrows. During the salmon fishing season sport fishing boats huddle around the mouth in great concentration, to the point of obstructing traffic in the shipping lane. During those two hours of intense activity mentioned above, the horns of the large freighters and cruise ships were blasting constantly. To aid in the management of the general chaos that was taking place west of the bridge, the Canadian Coast Guard patrol vessel OSPREY was buzzing back and forth under the bridge during the entire episode. I counted no less than 40 fishing boats at the mouth of the Capilano and to my amazement some of them were totally oblivious to the fact that they were in the shipping lane.
CCGS OSPREY, September 24, 2011, maintaining order in the harbour during a busy traffic period; photo taken from Lions Gate Bridge. Ref: WS11-0516.
On that busy day, September 24th, the ZUIDERDAM and CORAL PRINCESS also made their last appearances of the year in Vancouver. Among the freighters, the most interesting in my mind was the MILLENNIUM FALCON, a 12,000 tonne, Panamanian flagged general cargo vessel. Although derided by my shipspotting associate, who shall remain unnamed, as ‘tiresome’ for having visited too often, she is in fact an icon amongst visitors to the port. At a mere 138m in length, not unusual for a general cargo ship, she is equipped to carry almost anything within the confines of her size. She has two elongated cargo holds with two heavy-lift derricks centred between them. Her excessively tall fore-mast has a cross spar at the top, the function of which could only be for pirate spotting. In front of the wheelhouse are likewise tall twin masts joined by a cross spar which would provide wonderful views of the cargo loading operations. On the stern of the vessel is a large retractable ramp suitable for loading any type of roll-on/roll-off cargo. Despite my friend’s dismissal, she’s a wonderful peculiarity in this port.
MILLENNIUM FALCON, September 24, 2011, departing Vancouver after delivering cargo at LynnTerm; photo taken from Lions Gate Bridge. Ref: WS11-0511.
The day after this flurry of ship activity under the Lions Gate Bridge was another busy day. The second busiest day since I’ve been keeping track during the past five years. A whopping 16 arrivals made their way into port. On the busiest day, 17 ships arrived. On average, every day, every year, seven to eight ships call into port. Unfortunately, I wasn’t down at the harbour that day but in retrospect they may have all come in during the middle of the night, so it wouldn’t have mattered.
However I did manage to return to Stanley Park on September 28th when six ships passed through the narrows within the course of an hour, and a seventh had arrived shortly before them. It was a beautiful, sunny and unusually warm autumn day and there were some very interesting ships. The first transit was made by the 44,000 tonne, 195m woodchip carrier PRINCE OF TOKYO, registered in Panama. You’ll perhaps notice in the photo that these specialized bulk carriers have much greater freeboard than a regular bulk carrier of similar size. For this ship, the freeboard is 6.7 metres, compared to three or four for most regular bulkers. The freeboard is the distance from the deck to the plimsoll line (also known as the load line or waterline) and is easily visible by noting the change in colour from the top part of the hull to the part below it. Although the photo doesn’t show the beautiful mid-blue colour of the hull’s freeboard versus the light red of the hull below, it’s hopefully discernible in this black and white photo. Another interesting feature of the woodchip carrier is the special self-unloading gear. In addition to the usual derricks with clam-shovels, a hopper between each two holds is connected to a conveyor system on deck to speed the offloading of the cargo.
PRINCE OF TOKYO, September 28, 2011, en route to Fibreco Terminal to load woodchips; photo taken from Lions Gate Bridge. Ref: WS11-0519.
Arriving 15 minutes behind the PRINCE OF TOKYO was the Gearbulk general cargo ship TSURU ARROW. Gearbulk, a Norwegian company has the world’s largest fleet of open-hatch gantry craned vessels. The use of gantry cranes on deck rather than derricks is unusual but was specifically designed for handling forest products and other break-bulk cargo. The only other ships employing this design that I’ve seen in Vancouver are the ‘Saga’ ships, and the 'Star' ships. Saga Shipping and Star Shipping are also Norwegian companies.
PRINCE OF TOKYO, September 28, 2011, showing hoppers and conveyor for self unloading; photo taken from Lions Gate Bridge. Ref: WS11-0520.
TSURU ARROW, September 28, 2011, bound for LynnTerm with steel, general cargo and pipes on deck, photo taken from Lions Gate Bridge. Ref: WS11-0521.
Tsuru, as I discovered, is a Japanese word for crane (as in a type of bird). Gearbulk has had 55 different ships visit Vancouver over the last five years with the name ‘Arrow’, and 50 of them were named after birds.
The TSURU ARROW was bringing in general and project cargo to LynnTerm that day and on her deck could be seen about 40 lengths of large pipe, perhaps 5 or 6 feet in diameter and 40 to 50 feet in length. Twenty minutes after the ‘Arrow’ passed under the bridge, the Egyptian flagged bulker WADI ALBOSTAN sailed through the narrows. She had just finished loading a cargo of sulphur at Vancouver Wharves, a stone’s throw from the Lions Gate Bridge. The Wadi’ ships are some of my favourites – eight of them have called in over the last few years.
WADI ALBOSTAN, September 28, 2011, loading sulphur at Vancouver Wharves, photo taken from Stanley Park seawall. Ref: WS11-0523.
WADI ALBOSTAN, September 28, 2011, showing name in Arabic script, photo taken from Lions Gate Bridge. Ref: WS11-0524.
They are most notable for their colour. The hulls are a beautiful shade of mid-blue with red below the load line, but the hatches are an unusual shade of light green that I would call aquamarine. Complimented by the superstructure and derricks which are a buttermilk hue, the ships are veritable pastel artworks. Wadi is an Arabic word meaning valley or dry river bed. The ships are owned by National Navigation of Cairo and was originally developed by the Egyptian government in 1981. Its fleet is comprised of 14 bulk ships, a container ship, a general cargo ship and 2 passenger ships. Adding to the interest of its ships, the names on the bow and stern appear in both English and Arabic, and of course the Egyptian flag itself is exotic enough in this port.
The last two ships to arrive that afternoon were both container ships, well laden with cargo. The BREMEN BRIDGE was the first to sail in, followed by the APL IRIS.
The BREMEN BRIDGE was fairly full with containers on the deck but the APL IRIS was stacked up to the wheelhouse. It would seem that sometimes Vancouver is the first port of call on the West Coast and sometimes the last. Some container ships arrive here with their decks looking quite barren.
APL IRIS, September 28, 2011, entering Vancouver Harbour, photo taken from Prospect Point. Ref: WS11-0508.
APL IRIS, September 28, 2011, with containers stacked to the wheelhouse, photo taken from Prospect Point. Ref: WS11-0509.
Two other exotic flags made an appearance in port during the last month. Sailing up the Fraser River on September 29th was the Swiss flagged general cargo ship NIRINT ZEELANDIA. It would be considered a travesty by some mariners that a ship could be registered in a land-locked country. However, modern shipping has bent all the rules into unrecognizable shapes. This vessel is owned by Swiss Cargo Lines which started up in 1999 and now operates a fleet of 13 dry cargo vessels.
NIRINT ZEELANDIA, September 29, 2011, upbound on the Fraser River to Fraser-Surrey Docks; photo taken from Riverport, Richmond. Ref: WS11-0513.
NIRINR ZEELANDIA, September 29, 2011; Basel: seldom seen port of registry; photo taken from Riverport, RIchmond. Ref: WS11-0514.
The other unusual flag from a similarly land-locked country was that of Luxembourg, flying on the 57,000 tonne bulker UNIVERSAL BREMEN which was loading grain at Cargill and Vancouver Wharves during the week of October 14th. This vessel is owned and operated by a Dutch company so it would be interesting to know what Luxembourg is offering shipowners.
Besides the Swiss cargo ship, the Fraser River was its usual beehive of activity this month. There were 19 vehicle carriers calling in to the two terminals and 23 ships at Fraser-Surrey Docks since the last report. Many of the vehicle carriers are familiar visitors and certainly their shipping lines are. But one company, the Overseas Shipping Group based in New York, is not one of them. It is one of the largest tanker operators in the world with an American flagged fleet as well. With over 100 tankers of various types and sizes, it has a vehicle carrier in its fleet, the OVERSEAS JOYCE. She unloaded vehicles at Fraser Wharves in Richmond on October 13th. The logo looked out of place on her funnel. I’ve seen so many of the Overseas tankers in Vancouver that the logo and the tanker are synonymous
One of the ships delivering steel to Fraser-Surrey Docks was the 25,000 tonne Singapore flagged general cargo ship GLOBAL CHALLENGER. She is part of the fleet of South Korean operator Sejin Marine. Eight of its ships have visited Vancouver in the past five years but this ship is one of the regular visitors.
There were nine container ships visiting Fraser-Surrey Docks this past month. One of them, the NEWYORKER, a 33,000 tonne, 2500 TEU vessel is flagged in Panama and owned by Greek company Technomar Shipping of Athens. She is another regular visitor to the Fraser River port.
I’ll finish with an update on the general cargo ship MCP ALTONA which has been laid up in the Indian Arm near Deep Cove since May of this year. She is the vessel which spilled some of her uranium cargo in her hold when she hit rough seas in the Pacific Ocean en route to China back in December 2010.
UNIVERSAL BREMEN, October 15, 2011, loading grain at Vancouver Wharves; photo taken from Stanley Park seawall. Ref: WS11-0522.
OVERSEAS JOYCE, October 13, 2011, departing Fraser Wharves; photo taken from Deas Island Park, Delta. Ref: WS11-0517.
She docked in Vancouver at the Ballantyne Pier in January and underwent an extensive and thorough clean-up procedure and was finally cleared to sail in May. She was moved to the Indian Arm anchorage and has remained there ever since. An article in the Vancouver Sun in late September stated that the shipper, Cameco Corp. of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan is mired in a lawsuit with the ship’s owners (which have gone bankrupt) and the ship’s operator, Hartmann Schiffarts of Germany. Cameco claims that their cargo was improperly handled and secured and that the vessel was unseaworthy, an incredulous claim given that she was built in 2007. Hartmann counters that the drums of uranium were not properly secured in the containers, and that the containers were not properly selected. This could be a long one. In the meantime, how does the ‘Chateau Altona Seaside’ sound as a unique hotel experience for 20 to 40 people, with shuttle service to Deep Cove and Barnet Marine Park, with a periodic tour around the port? ǂ
GLOBAL CHALLENGER, October 8, 2011, downbound on the Fraser River after delivering steel at FSDocks, photo taken from Riverport, RIchmond. Ref: WS11-0510.
NEWYORKER, October 3, 2011, upbound on the Fraser River to Fraser-Surrey Docks, photo taken from Deas Island Park, Delta. Ref: WS11-0512.
Highlights from the October 2011 edition of our newsletter (Issue 186)
METRO VANCOUVER SCENE by Neil England
Please respect the copyright notice at the foot of the page. All material on this website, including photographs, is copyrighted by The World Ship Society of British Columbia, and/or the individual writers/photographers
Ship visits tapered off slightly in the last half of August and finished with a total of 261 for the month. This compares favourably with last year’s 238 for the month of August. The year to date by the end of August 2011 saw 1,941 ships compared to 1,882 for 2010. So this year is still on an upward trend.
September marks the winding down of the cruise ship season in Vancouver. Many ships making regular runs to Alaska have already finished and moved on to warmer climes. A few have stayed around for repositioning cruises on the Pacific Coast before leaving by the end of the month. The last cruise ship to leave Vancouver this year will be Holland America’s OOSTERDAM which leaves here on Oct. 4th for a 4-night cruise to San Diego with a stop in Victoria. She then sails off to Mexico and Hawaii for winter cruises.
Despite some media reports of loosing cruise business to Seattle, Port Metro Vancouver has revealed that cruise sailings are up this year by 27 as of the end of August. Passengers are up by a healthy 90,000. No wonder Stanley Park has seemed so crowded this summer.
I’m sure we’ll remember August and early September for its spectacular weather. I took full advantage of it by getting out on 12 shipspotting adventures since the last report. I spent more time on the Fraser River than usual, realizing that there’s so much to explore there. And it has been busy on the river. A total of 16 vehicle carriers in the past month have called into the two terminals, Fraser Wharves in Richmond and Annacis Auto Terminal on Annacis Island, Delta. Another 24 ships have visited the Fraser-Surrey Docks: nine container ships and 15 bulk ships, four of them loading logs.
On one outing I was poking around the area of Fraser Wharves looking for new places from which to photograph. I pulled my car into the visitor parking lot outside the BC Ferries Maintenance Yard nearby. It was a Saturday and the place was deserted except for one car inside the gate and a man in the gatehouse reading a book. I surmised that I could bypass the gate and get down to the river via a short path and then through the large employee parking lot. Which I did. It was a nice spot to photograph, but unfortunately I was hoping to be able to see Fraser Wharves but it was around the corner a good distance still. While waiting for the vehicle carrier AMERICAN HIGHWAY which was scheduled to dock at Fraser Wharves I saw a couple of small tugs, several fishing boats and the beautiful veteran tug SEA COMMANDER which was towing a large cargo barge called the OCEAN OREGON. The tug was built in 1945 in Virginia and was formerly the SEASPAN COMMANDER. She is 44m in length, 661 gross tons as has four diesel engines putting out a total of 3000 hp.
On another day in late August I was in the same area trying to get as close to Fraser Wharves as I could to photograph a ship docked there. I was frustrated in my attempt but on noticing a tractor rut winding through a nearby hay field, I decided to follow it. After traipsing through the mud for five or ten minutes I had to settle for a shot of the HEIJIN over top of the hay, as I could see it was not going to get any better. It nevertheless made for an interesting photo.
AMERICAN HIGHWAY, September 5, 2011, docking at Fraser Wharves, taken from Rice Mill Road, Richmond. Ref:WS11-0416.
SEA COMMANDER, September 5, 2011, towing barge OCEAN OREGON up the Fraser River; taken from Rice Mill Road, Richmond. Ref:WS11-0426.
HEIJIN, August 23, 2011 unloading vehicles at Fraser Wharves; taken at Rice Mill Road, RIchmond. Ref:WS11-0421.
On the opposite side of the Fraser River in Delta is Deas Island, a 2km long park which straddles the George Massey Tunnel, carrying Highway 99 traffic from Vancouver to the U.S. border. There are several excellent viewpoints along the banks of this island for watching the considerable and varied marine traffic plying the river. I stopped one day in early September at one of the viewpoints just south of the tunnel to talk to a couple of people who were fishing on the bank. There happens to be a navaid on the shore at this spot built on a concrete foundation about 6 feet high. To my surprise there was a ladder on the abutment where I hadn’t noticed one before and so naturally I climbed up. The view seemed to be so much better from this slight elevation. Having dallied a bit I was further surprised to see the ship I had come to photograph rounding the bend downriver. I knew it would be approximately 10 minutes before her arrival at this location and that I wouldn’t make it in time to the very tip of the island where I would normally go, this being considered the premier spot for photographing. To my delight the navaid turned out to be a wonderful spot from which to view and photograph. The object of my outing, the LASER ACE passed very close to the shore. The 29,000 tonne Panamanian bulker was bound for the Fraser-Surrey docks to load forest products. Not all ships pass as close to shore as this one did (as I subsequently discovered) but I think this vessel had a particularly cavalier pilot aboard. When they’re empty as this one was and the tide is high, I’m sure they don’t have to be so fussy about staying in the middle of the channel.
From this same spot I saw the Norwegian general cargo ship STAR ISFJORD heading downriver on Sept. 1st. It was apparent then that the outbound freighters are so much farther away from the south shore. Later in September I photographed the 32,000 tonne Panamanian bulker LORD WELLINGTON, fully laden with steel, en route to the Fraser-Surrey Docks. Still later, on the 18th, the 32,000 tonne Hong Kong flagged bulker POS JADE travelled empty up to Fraser-Surrey Docks to load logs. She was 20 minutes ahead of the LUNA SPIRIT, a 180m Panamanian flagged vehicle carrier bound for the Annacis Auto Terminal. She passed close to a kindred spirit, the VIKING DIAMOND, a 165m, Singapore flagged vehicle carrier docked at Fraser Wharves across the river. The ‘Viking’ is one of twenty-five 2011-delivered ships that called into Vancouver during the past month.
LORD WELLINGTON, September 5, 2011 enroute to Fraser-Surrey Docks; taken from Deas Island Park, Delta. Ref:WS11-0423.
LASER ACE, August 30, 2011 enroute to Fraser-Surrey Docks; taken from Deas Island Park, Delta. Ref: WS11-0422.
POS JADE, September 5, 2011 enroute to Fraser-Surrey Docks; taken from Deas Island Park, Delta. Ref:WS11-0425.
While the south arm of the Fraser River is the larger channel used for deep-sea shipping, the north arm is a beehive of tug-and-barge activity. From the mouth of this arm, just below the western cliffs of the University of British Columbia, right up to its divergence from the south arm at New Westminster, you will see more logs than you could count in a month. I made an excursion by bicycle out to Iona Regional Park, near the mouth of the North Arm on September 6th. It was a quiet Tuesday morning and very few people were there. The parking lot at the end of the road looks west, straight across to Vancouver Island. To the north is the river, across which lies the Shaughnessy Golf Club and the forests of the University Endowment Lands. A spit and jetty extend from the park along the south shore of the river for approximately four km, ending opposite Wreck Beach at UBC. It’s along this jetty, and all throughout the river’s wide mouth that one will find hundreds of log booms moored to pylons in the river. This scene is repeated in lesser concentrations all the way up the river to New Westminster. A satellite view of this arm looks surreal.
As I made my way from the park toward the river’s shore, I was greeted by a sign that boldly announced ‘No Unauthorized Vehicles Beyond This Point’. Not knowing if my bike was authorized, I proceeded. I was able to travel uninhibited for a kilometre before encountering a wood and steel recycling operation on the narrow spit which was fenced off. At this point I had lunch on the beach and photographed one of the cargo barges moored to the pylons, the SEASPAN 204. Looking around, there was little indication that I was near a big city, so pastoral was the scene. While having lunch a small tugboat had just brought a log boom up the river and moored it opposite me. Unfamiliar to me, it was named simply H & R. I imagined it was ‘Hank & Rick’ or ‘Homer & Rufus’. It seemed like that kind of an operation. Investigating later, I found it was owned by Tortoise Towing of New Westminster, and I believe she’s the whole fleet.
LUNA SPIRIT, September 18, 2011 passing VIKING DIAMOND at Fraser Wharves enroute to Annacis Auto Terminal. Ref:WS11-0424.
SEASPAN 204, September 6, 2011 moored at Iona Island; taken from Iona Island, Richmond. Ref:WS11-0427.
Where do all these logs go? There’s still a few mills operating on the Fraser, but not many. Sadly, many are going out weekly on ships like the POS JADE, (mentioned earlier) 25 to 30 thousand tonnes at a time.
I managed to get down to the harbour a few times and saw two especially interesting arrivals and an unusual juxtaposition. The newly built SEASPAN EAGLE arrived in Vancouver harbour on the 7th of September with little fanfare. She was escorted through the First Narrows by the SEASPAN HAWK and the SEASPAN FALCON.
The ‘EAGLE’ is the 2nd of 4 harbour tugs being delivered from Turkish shipbuilder Sanmar Denizcilik of Istanbul. She left Turkey on July 15th, spending nearly 2 months on her long ocean voyage to get here. She joins her sister, the SEASPAN RAVEN which was delivered in January of this year. The 3rd sister tug will arrive later this year, and the last one in early 2012.
SEASPAN EAGLE, September 7, 2011 on maiden voyage into Vancouver; taken from Stanley Park seawall. Ref:WS11-0428.
On September 6th a very unusual ship entered the harbour. I wasn’t on hand to see her arrival but saw her the next day at Vancouver Wharves. WSS Vancouver Branch president Ray Warren was on the Lions Gate Bridge to greet her and has forwarded a great photo to me. The ship is the cable layer GLOBAL SENTINEL, a 143m, Marshall Islands-flagged vessel owned by Tyco Electronics Subsea Communications of Morristown, New Jersey. The ship was built in Singapore in 1991 for Transoceanic Cable Ship Company, a subsidiary of AT&T. Upon arriving in Vancouver she docked at Vancouver Wharves for a few days before moving into the Vancouver Dry Dock where she still sits as of this writing. During her 20-year history she has laid cable all over the world, but of local interest she laid the 4th Transpacific cable from California to Port Alberni to Japan in 1991.
It’s unusual to have two active deep-sea freighters with the same name – but it happens. This year we had a visit from a Netherlands-flagged container ship called CARIBBEAN SEA. Last year we had a visit from a Liberian registered container ship called CARIBBEAN SEA. More unusual is to see two freighters with the same name in port at the same time. And within sight of each other! Such was the case on September 7th when I visited New Brighton Park. Directly across the water at LynnTerm-6 was the older SELANDIA, a 200m, 48,000 tonne geared bulker registered in the Isle of Man and built in 1996. She was loading forest products. Just west of her, at Neptune Terminals Berth-1 was the newly delivered SELANDIA, a Panamax bulker, 229m in length, 83,000 tonnes and flagged in Antigua & Barbuda. She was loading coal. The Port of Vancouver correctly listed them as such but I may not have believed it if I hadn’t checked it out myself.
GLOBAL SENTINEL, September 6, 2011, cable layer. Photo by Ray Warren, taken from Lions Gate Bridge. Ref:WS11-0419.
I made one out-of-town trip to Anacortes, Washington to visit friends. This small town southwest of Bellingham is always one of my favourite nearby ports to visit. There are two oil refineries there, Tesoro and Shell, on a finger of land called March Point about 8 miles from downtown. A rocky bluff within walking distance from downtown has a commanding view of the refinery docks, the bay and the entire eastern panorama over to Mount Baker. In addition, adjacent to downtown is a bulk loading dock, a dry dock, a shipyard and tug moorage. On my numerous trips there it is more common than not to find the bulk terminal unoccupied. However this time it was occupied – and I learned something about oil refining and aluminum smelting because of it. Alongside was the 20,000 tonne Liberian general cargo ship BBC LEER. It was loading petroleum coke which was being trucked from the Shell Oil Refinery. I watched, fascinated, from a knoll on the property adjacent to the dock. A local couple were watching the operation with me and filled me in on some of the details.
Anacortes Pier 2, September 9, 2011 with trucks unloading petroleum coke; photo taken from the waterfront of Anacortes, WA. Ref:WS11-0417.
Petroleum coke is a byproduct of refining crude oil and results in various grades of the coke. The particular coke being loaded onto this ship was a high grade one used in the production of carbon anodes used in the aluminum smelting process. The vessel was bound for Quebec, a good indication of the value of the cargo that it should be sought at such a distance. I was informed by the couple that the ship takes about three days to load and the trucks run constantly for 20 hours a day. As we watched the dockside operation for a while the trucks were arriving at the dock in a very efficient fashion with always one truck unloading while a second was waiting. The hopper trucks were trailers with a pup. Each truck drove up onto a ramp, emptying the contents from the bottom into a bin which fed directly onto a mobile conveyor belt and straight into the hold of the ship. The procedure ran like clockwork.ǂ
H & R, September 6, 2011 mooring a log boom on the North Arm of the Fraser River, taken from Iona Island, Richmond. Ref:WS11-0420.
SELANDIA, September 7, 2011 - 1996 geared bulker loading forest products at LynnTerm, taken from New Brighton Park. Ref:WS11-0429.
SEALANDIA, September 7, 2011. Panamax bulker loading coal at Neptune Terminals taken from Wall Street, East Vancouver. Ref:WS11-0430.
BBC LEER, September 9, 2011, loading petroleum coke at Anacortes Pier. Ref:WS11-0418.
All photos in the "Metro Vancouver Scene" article(s) were taken by Neil England, except where otherwise noted.
NORWEGIAN STAR, September 24, 2011, departing on her last visit of the year; photo taken from Lions Gate Bridge. Ref:WS11-0515.
CCGS OSPREY, September 24, 2011, maintaining order in the harbour during a busy traffic period; photo taken from Lions Gate Bridge. Ref: WS11-0516. 
MILLENNIUM FALCON, September 24, 2011, departing Vancouver after delivering cargo at LynnTerm; photo taken from Lions Gate Bridge. Ref: WS11-0511. 
PRINCE OF TOKYO, September 28, 2011, en route to Fibreco Terminal to load woodchips; photo taken from Lions Gate Bridge. Ref: WS11-0519. 
PRINCE OF TOKYO, September 28, 2011, showing hoppers and conveyor for self unloading; photo taken from Lions Gate Bridge. Ref: WS11-0520. 
TSURU ARROW, September 28, 2011, bound for LynnTerm with steel, general cargo and pipes on deck, photo taken from Lions Gate Bridge. Ref: WS11-0521.
WADI ALBOSTAN, September 28, 2011, loading sulphur at Vancouver Wharves, photo taken from Stanley Park seawall. Ref: WS11-0523.
WADI ALBOSTAN, September 28, 2011, showing name in Arabic script, photo taken from Lions Gate Bridge. Ref: WS11-0524.
APL IRIS, September 28, 2011, entering Vancouver Harbour, photo taken from Prospect Point. Ref: WS11-0508. 
APL IRIS, September 28, 2011, with containers stacked to the wheelhouse, photo taken from Prospect Point. Ref: WS11-0509.
NIRINT ZEELANDIA, September 29, 2011, upbound on the Fraser River to Fraser-Surrey Docks; photo taken from Riverport, Richmond. Ref: WS11-0513.
NIRINR ZEELANDIA, September 29, 2011; Basel: seldom seen port of registry; photo taken from Riverport, RIchmond. Ref: WS11-0514.
UNIVERSAL BREMEN, October 15, 2011, loading grain at Vancouver Wharves; photo taken from Stanley Park seawall. Ref: WS11-0522. 
OVERSEAS JOYCE, October 13, 2011, departing Fraser Wharves; photo taken from Deas Island Park, Delta. Ref: WS11-0517.
GLOBAL CHALLENGER, October 8, 2011, downbound on the Fraser River after delivering steel at FSDocks, photo taken from Riverport, RIchmond. Ref: WS11-0510.
NEWYORKER, October 3, 2011, upbound on the Fraser River to Fraser-Surrey Docks, photo taken from Deas Island Park, Delta. Ref: WS11-0512.
AMERICAN HIGHWAY, September 5, 2011, docking at Fraser Wharves, taken from Rice Mill Road, Richmond. Ref:WS11-0416.
SEA COMMANDER, September 5, 2011, towing barge OCEAN OREGON up the Fraser River; taken from Rice Mill Road, Richmond. Ref:WS11-0426.
HEIJIN, August 23, 2011 unloading vehicles at Fraser Wharves; taken at Rice Mill Road, RIchmond. Ref:WS11-0421.
LORD WELLINGTON, September 5, 2011 enroute to Fraser-Surrey Docks; taken from Deas Island Park, Delta. Ref:WS11-0423.
LASER ACE, August 30, 2011 enroute to Fraser-Surrey Docks; taken from Deas Island Park, Delta. Ref: WS11-0422.
POS JADE, September 5, 2011 enroute to Fraser-Surrey Docks; taken from Deas Island Park, Delta. Ref:WS11-0425.
LUNA SPIRIT, September 18, 2011 passing VIKING DIAMOND at Fraser Wharves enroute to Annacis Auto Terminal. Ref:WS11-0424.
SEASPAN 204, September 6, 2011 moored at Iona Island; taken from Iona Island, Richmond. Ref:WS11-0427.
SEASPAN EAGLE, September 7, 2011 on maiden voyage into Vancouver; taken from Stanley Park seawall. Ref:WS11-0428.
GLOBAL SENTINEL, September 6, 2011, cable layer. Photo by Ray Warren, taken from Lions Gate Bridge. Ref:WS11-0419.
Anacortes Pier 2, September 9, 2011 with trucks unloading petroleum coke; photo taken from the waterfront of Anacortes, WA. Ref:WS11-0417.
H & R, September 6, 2011 mooring a log boom on the North Arm of the Fraser River, taken from Iona Island, Richmond. Ref:WS11-0420.
SELANDIA, September 7, 2011 - 1996 geared bulker loading forest products at LynnTerm, taken from New Brighton Park. Ref:WS11-0429.
SEALANDIA, September 7, 2011. Panamax bulker loading coal at Neptune Terminals taken from Wall Street, East Vancouver. Ref:WS11-0430.
BBC LEER, September 9, 2011, loading petroleum coke at Anacortes Pier. Ref:WS11-0418.