A Pacific Pilotage Authority report filed shortly after a shipping accident resulted in a massive amount of oil spilling into the estuary may support allegations the shipping company is now leveling at Squamish Terminals and Squamish Tugboats.On Friday, Aug. 1 - two years after 29,000 litres of oil spewed from the Westwood Anette's hull after being punctured - the Norwegian Gearbulk Shipping company filed two writs in the B.C. Supreme Court civil division seeking reimbursement of millions of dollars spent on cleaning the estuary and monitoring environmental damage. The writ states hazardous metal structures in the terminal contributed to the spill."Docks are not supposed to be designed with those sorts of features," said Gearbulk's lawyer Peter Swanson.An incident report written by Ken Obermeyer, president and chief executive officer of the Pacific Pilotage Authority, which provided a pilot to direct the vessel into Squamish Terminals, made similar points about the terminal design."The piles are of such a design that when the vessel rests against them, the three wooden piles move into the H-frame recess placing the steel H-frame against the vessels hull," it states. "It was this steel bracket that punched into the ships side and caused the heavy oil to enter the water. Although these piles were not designed to have a vessel lie against them, it was ultimately the root cause as the designallows the piles to be recessed when a vessel rests against them."The writ filed against Squamish Tugboats claims the tugs provided were not powerful enough to handle the vessel and prevent it from colliding into the terminal pilings.The Pacific Pilotage Authority report also suggests the tugs were not adequate for the vessel."There needs to be a comprehensive joint study undertaken to determine the minimum tug power (bollard pull) requirements for particular vessel types using empirical data and a calculation," it states.Finance director Bruce Chadwick who spoke on behalf of the authority said he has heard of similar writs in the past. In the 13 years he has been working for the authority, he said he has not been aware of a case where a pilot was named in a writ, but said they do have dollar protection under the federal government's Pilotage Act.Meanwhile, the waiting game has begun for the owners of Squamish Terminals and Squamish Tugboats. Terminals owner Ron Anderson said he has not yet been served with the writ and only knows what details he has been able to find online. "Because such things are really rare for us, we really don't have a lot of experience in that regard," he said.Squamish Tugboat manager Chris Tamburri would not comment on the issue, nor would he confirm whether he has seen the writ.While there is no dollar figure attached to the writ, Swanson said millions of dollars have been spent so far. Since there's been no communication with the company, Anderson said it is hard to determine his next steps."It's their decision to do what they're doing. Not having spoken to any of them I have no inside information or understanding. "We just have to wait."
