When looking out to the ships in Vancouver harbour, you might be surprised to learn just how few are tankers. At present, more than 250 large commercial vessels enter the port each month — about 3,000 per year. 

With the Trans Mountain Pipeline and Westridge Marine Terminal expansions, the terminal is forecast to serve up to 37 vessels per month – up to 34 Aframax class tankers and three barges. This increased total would represent about 14 per cent of today’s marine traffic in Port of Vancouver.

The expansion at Westridge Marine Terminal is based on the loading of up to Aframax tankers, the same tankers currently being loaded at Westridge. The Port of Vancouver doesn’t permit larger tankers, so they’re not part of the expansion. Changes at the dock complex include new loading facilities, fire protection, vapour recovery and emergency response equipment.

To connect the Burnaby Terminal with the Westridge Marine Terminal, the expansion includes two new, 4-kilometre pipelines each with a diameter of 30 inches. These two new Westridge delivery lines, along with the existing 24 inch delivery line, will move products to tankers at the three new dock berths at Westridge Marine Terminal, and provide the necessary scheduling flexibility required for loading the planned number of tankers. More details about the dock expansion can be found here.