The K.J. Gardner, Canada’s largest quick-response flagship offshore supply vessel equipped for pollution cleanup, emergency towage and support duties, has a new home base in British Columbia’s Beecher Bay.
Packed with new spill-response equipment valued at about $6 million, the 74 metre-long K.J. Gardner can hold up to 1,000 tonnes of recovered oil and can act as an emergency towing vessel.
The vessel is now at a new base in Beecher Bay, some 30 km southwest of Victoria. Next to the Sc’ianew First Nations community, it joins other smaller spill-response vessels that are part of the Western Canada Marine Response (WCMRC), which has 2,300 members and 88 response vessels on B.C.’s coast.
Named after WCMRC president Kevin Gardner, who has led the capacity expansion, the 2009-built vessel will now protect the Salish Sea, including Haro Strait and Juan de Fuca Strait. It has firefighting capacity and accommodation for 26 crew members.
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In a statement, Western Canada Marine Response said KJ Gardner could “launch a large-scale response within six hours anywhere along the shipping lanes, bolstering environmental protection efforts significantly.”
K.J. GARDNER
| Home Port | Beecher Bay |
| Function | Offshore Support Vessel |
| Gross Tonnage | 2,800 GT |
| Length | 74.5 m (245′) |
| Breadth | 17.6 m (58′) |
| Boom | 1,200m (4,000′) offshore boom
Current Buster 6 |
| Skimmer | Triton 150 |
| Storage | 1,000 tonnes |
Related Professional Development Course
Attend “Dealing with Environmental Emergencies and Spills” on April 25th at the CANECT 2024 Environmental Compliance and Due Diligence Training Event in Vaughan, Ontario. Attend this course to be sure of your responsibilities; implement measures to increase resiliency; avoid liability; and encourage proactive best practices. Visit www.canect.net for more information.
