Vancouver Fraser Port Authority to reward quieter ships

The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority announced a new incentive on January 25, 2017, for cargo and cruise vessels that operate quietly around the Port of Vancouver on behalf of at-risk whales.

The port authority added criteria to its existing EcoAction program to include rate discounts on harbour dues for quieter ships. This makes Canada the first country in the world with a marine noise reduction incentive. The new criteria include three quiet-vessel ship classifications and three propeller technologies that have demonstrated a reduction in underwater noise.

The new noise reduction incentive is one of the outcomes of the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority-led ECHO program, which launched in 2014 with the goals of better understanding and reducing the cumulative impacts of commercial vessel activities on at-risk whales throughout British Columbia’s southern coastal region.