Thank you for the question.
If the Woodfibre LNG Project goes ahead, LNG carriers – three to four per month, accompanied by at least three tugboats and piloted by two BC Coast Pilots – will transit Howe Sound on the existing shipping route through Queen Charlotte Channel east of Bowen Island. The carriers will then pass Gambier Island and Anvil Island as they travel to the Woodfibre LNG terminal. Each carrier will take a similar route in reverse to leave Howe Sound.
As this is our intended route, it is under close examination as part of Transport Canada’s TERMPOL review process. We have committed to carrying out recommendations from that process.
The reason you may be hearing about a second route on the other side of Bowen Island is because Woodfibre LNG Limited was required, as part of the Environmental Assessment process, in 2013, to identify an alternative route for LNG carriers. As part of that requirement, we looked at having carriers transit through Collingwood Channel west of Bowen Island. As you will see in Section 2.4.2 Alternative Shipping Routes within Howe Sound of Woodfibre LNG’s Environmental Assessment Certificate Application, this alternate route is no longer under consideration.
If the Woodfibre LNG Project goes ahead, it is our intention that LNG carriers will enter Howe Sound through Queen Charlotte Channel, between Bowen Island and District of West Vancouver.
To help illustrate that route, here is a map of Howe Sound with a yellow dotted line showing the shipping route we plan to use if Woodfibre LNG goes ahead.
