A monumental day for Kitimat - as a tanker carrying the first ever shipment of LNG arrived at the harbour to prepare for the site’s testing phase.
The Maran Gas Roxana was carrying a Cargo of LNG that will be used for cooling, testing and storage, before commerical operations begin.
Captain Tracey Hittel is the owner of Gateway Shipping and Transport in Kitimat - he called the day historic.
“Well, today, as you know, we are making history. And, what’s happening is we have an import of LNG coming in to the site. It’s going to cool the place down and get it ready for operation, and then start exporting the LNG. ”
Hittel emphasized that this is the largest, single investment in Canadian history.
“As you can see, we’ve got all these brand new tugs with Haisla and Seaspan escorting the first LNG tanker into Kitimat. This is our largest vessel that we’ve seen here”
Hittel says to expect more ships.
“So with the tanker traffic, once the, things start happening and the export ships are coming in, there will probably be maybe 3 or 4 ships, every two weeks. If there is an LNG Canada second phase, we’re looking at a ship every third day. Making our Douglas Channel a, navigational wonder. And for us is sport fishermen, as locals, we’re going to coexist with each other. And we look forward to the opportunity and the future of our area and our nation.”
The tanker was successfully berthed at the LNG Canada marine terminal jetty. LNG Canada anticipates the discharge will take three to four weeks to complete.