Section 3.10: Site Plans and Technical Data - Rick Neufeld Comments

Northern Gateway Pipelines Inc.
Section 3.10: Site Plans and Technical Data
Table of Contents
2.2 General Arrangement
2.2.1 Marine Terminal General Arrangement
A general arrangement plan showing the overall marine terminal layout is given in Drawing No. 002.
Both tanker berths and the Utility Berth are located in the northern half of the project site in order to avoid
an existing alluvial fan near the middle of the site, as shown on Drawing No. 001. (Reference 5,
Reference 6). This eliminates possible foundation issues associated with the alluvial fan as indicated in
Section 2.6.3.3. The South Berth is located to the immediate north of the alluvial fan. The North Berth is
located further north along the shoreline providing a vessel-to vessel separation of approximately 190
metres (one-half the maximum design vessel length). The Utility Berth is located 115 metres north of the
north tanker berth.
The exact berth locations will be determined during detailed design. Each berth location will be optimized
based on a number of criteria, including obtaining sufficient underkeel clearance with minimal dredging
or rock blasting requirements. The berth clearance lines shown in Drawing Nos. 002, 003, and 004
provide adequate water depth for the largest vessels, accounting for compression of the rubber fender as
well as an angular vessel approach of up to 7 degrees measured inshore from the fender line 1
. The
dredged areas extend north and south at least 50 percent of the design VLCC length from the outermost
berthing structure in accordance with the TERMPOL Review Process (TRP) Guidelines.
As shown in Drawing No. 002, the bathymetry of the site is characterized by a steep embankment that
drops fairly evenly from the shoreline down to a level of approximately -40 metres below low tide. Below
the -40 metres level, the seabed tends to be steeper along the northern half of the proposed site and less
steep in the southern half. To provide enough underkeel clearance for the design VLCC ship, the -30
metres contour (geodetic datum) will likely represent the fender line of the marine berth. This contour lies
approximately 25 to 40 metres offshore in the northern area of the site, and approximately 50 to 75 metres
in the southern area.
2.2.2 Proposed Vessel Manoeuvring
2.2.2.1 Turning Basins and Navigational Clearances
In the immediate vicinity of the terminal, Douglas Channel is approximately 2,500 metres wide. This
provides ample area for manoeuvring and turning the vessels, as shown in Figure 2-3. The available space
easily exceeds the minimum turning basin size of 2.5 times the overall length of the largest ship (i.e., 850
metres for a VLCC class ship and 750 metres for a Suezmax class ship). Aframax vessels will have an
even smaller required turning basin diameter and will not govern. Due to the steep-sided bathymetry and
deep waters of Douglas Channel, the seabed quickly drops off from the shoreline and achieves depths
within the turning basin area well in excess of 40 metres deep. This easily meets the minimum
manoeuvring-area underkeel clearance requirements of 27.1 metres as given in the Special Underkeel
Clearance Survey (TERMPOL Study 3.6).
1 Although the TRP Guidelines (Appendix 3, Clause 1.3) specifies an approach angle of 5 degrees, the
Kitimat berth layouts are based on an angle of 7 degrees to provide increased clearance from shore as
an added measure of safety.
January 20, 2010 FINAL - Rev. 0 Page 2-3