Canadian Maritime Engineering (CME) is hoping to bring shipbreaking to the Port Alberni waterfront.

Tony Kennedy, CME president, and Doug Anderson, vice president of operations, appeared virtually before Port Alberni city council last month to talk about the shipbreaking process. Shipbreaking is the disposal of a marine vessel through the breaking up of parts. 

Kennedy explained that the federal government wants to see "a majority" of government vessels disposed of in Canada. Because of this, CME is currently developing a business model for shipbreaking.

鈥淭hat has been part of our model, to be able to develop and take on that work,鈥� said Kennedy.

He said that CME has taken on a few shipbreaking projects at their facility in Nanaimo, but they are currently bidding on some vessels to be recycled in Port Alberni. Canal Beach is their largest facility, and the company is currently in the middle of a multi-year program to upgrade and develop the location. Kennedy said that Port Alberni's protected port, with deep water access, is also a benefit.

鈥淲e鈥檝e currently got our travel lift underway,鈥� Kennedy said. A travel lift is a specialized type of crane used to lift boats out of the water and move them around. 鈥淚t鈥檚 under construction currently now, which will give us a much larger capacity in the port for handling vessels of much heavier tonnage and size.鈥� The travel lift also gives them the ability to handle more than one vessel at a time, he said.

Councillor Cindy Solda was concerned about the environmental impact of shipbreaking, since part of the process involves leaving the ship in the water.

鈥淗ow do we avoid that?" she said. "Spillage can happen.鈥�

Anderson went over the process of shipbreaking and emphasized that CME is planning to follow all safety regulations and environmental standards. The company is planning to work with third party contractors for hazardous material removal, and the ship will be protected by a boom throughout the process so nothing ends up in the water.

Kennedy also explained that the vessels they have been bidding on are under a federal contract, which means CME will be audited and there will be inspections throughout the shipbreaking process.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of eyes and ears on this to make sure everything鈥檚 compliant,鈥� said Kennedy. 

Canadian Maritime Engineering isn't the first company to talk about bringing shipbreaking to Port Alberni. In October of this year, Port Alberni city council voted to write a letter of support for 台湾MM裸聊室 Restoration Society for the construction of a vessel recycling facility.

But shipbreaking has also been a topic of concern on Vancouver Island for the past few years, as Deep Water Recovery 鈥� which operates a shipbreaking site in Union Bay 鈥� has received multiple warning letters from the province for failing to meet safety and environmental standards. Most recently, an inspection found its operations are discharging copper effluent at more than 100 times the province鈥檚 allowable limit, and 13 times more than what is allowed for zinc effluent.

Many people, including Courtenay-Alberni MP Gord Johns, have called on the federal government to put a stop to the operations. 

"This jeopardizes this sensitive ecosystem which includes half of all of B.C.鈥檚 shellfish," Johns said in the House of Commons on Friday, Nov. 22. "Warnings simply aren鈥檛 enough. Why are the Liberals refusing to do anything about this?鈥�

One Parksville resident, Paul Wisniewski, has also initiated a , urging the federal government to stop the shipbreaking operation in Union Bay. The petition is open for signing until Dec. 5, 2024.

However, Anderson emphasized on Nov. 18 that there will be control measures in place at the CME site to ensure that Port Alberni, and its waters, will not be at risk.

鈥淲e鈥檝e gone through a lot of hoops," he said. "We do the jobs correctly with all the disposal processes on this.鈥�

Kennedy and Anderson said that they have been in communication with Tseshaht and Hupacasath First Nations about the project, as well.