Marine Navigation Safety Assessment

Transport Canada

We want to provide Canadians with a visual representation of the marine navigation safety risks that exist in the shipping industry and describe the types of recommendations that come from a TERMPOL review. We also want to provide a visual representation that distinguishes the different geographic areas covered by a TERMPOL review versus an environmental assessment (a review of the environmental effects likely to be associated with a project. It is localized and only covers the marine terminal facility, it does not currently cover ships coming in and out of the facility).

We are open to creative ideas, but the infographic should show the limit of the geographic area covered by an environmental assessment. It should represent the transshipment (transfer of a shipment from one carrier to another place/means of transportation) of cargo and the types of navigation safety risks addressed in a TERMPOL. Examples of navigation safety risks relating to route safety and cargo transfer operations associated with a marine terminal are provided in the next section. The infographic should also represent the Canada Shipping Act, 2001 (CSA 2001), the principal legislation governing marine safety in Canada.

The infographic should illustrate all of this information by depicting a fictional waterway (such as a coast) where there is a marine oil terminal facility and several transiting ships of various type and size (personal boat, oil tanker, bulk carrier, etc.) It should show the geographic area covered by environmental assessments (i.e. the marine oil terminal facility), and represent the Canada Shipping Act as the overarching legislation governing shipping and navigation. The infographic should show where one process starts and ends and where another begins (i.e. environmental assessment at the proposed terminal, CSA 2001 as over-arching, TERMPOL along the route and cargo transfer operations). Any representation of a geographic area must be an entirely fictional place.
The infographic should illustrate some elements that pose a risk to navigation safety such as:
• Ships/boats coming in and out of a small area (marine traffic)
• Pleasure crafts such as small fishing boats, sail boats, jet-skis, etc.
• Narrow channels
• Currents
• Wind/weather
• Natural obstructions (I.e. large rocks, sea ice, changes in ocean depth, etc.)
It should also illustrate recommendations that that result from the process, such as:
• Tug escorts (image of tug boat attached to either a liquid natural gas carrier or oil tanker, or on its own)
• Speed limits
• Aids to navigation (such as a floating buoy)
• Indigenous knowledge/Indigenous partnerships
• Marine mammals

The main purpose of this infographic is to develop a communication tool that will allow an audience with no prior knowledge of TERMPOL to understand why the process is important and to encourage people to ask questions. It is not intended to be used on its own, but rather as a communication tool to discuss the current process, its gaps and opportunities. Accordingly, the infographic should be simple, easy to follow and interesting.