Editor:
The two noisiest vessels that visit the local container port are Hapag Lloyd's Houston Express and the Savannah Express. These are the older sister ships in Hapag Lloyd's fleet and they sit there with unmuffled diesel generators thumping day and night.
My new neighbour used to live in Beach Grove where they could hear the thumping but never knew the source. No doubt many other Tsawwassen residents have heard this thumping, not knowing the source.
If you have been annoyed by this continual thumping, please call the Port Metro Vancouver 24-hour line and ask for these vessels to be re-routed.
The Houston and the Savannah call here regularly on a six-week cycle. Obviously, Hapag Lloyd considers the Delta container port an industrial site It has many more modern vessels that could dock here quietly, but they continually send these noisy rust buckets here instead of re-routing them to other docks.
As I write this letter (evening of Saturday, Aug. 25) the Houston is out there making its noise and will remain here until after midnight Tuesday. On the morning of Thursday, Sept. 6, the sister ship Savannah will arrive to make more noise.
Phone 604-665-9004 and let them know you are not satisfied with the current schedules. If you don't take action, the Houston Express will be back here to ruin your Thanksgiving weekend, and the Savannah will follow a week later.
One of the local docks provided us with a penetrating frequency for more than an hour at midnight on recent weekends. If you hear this noise, feel free to call the above number and let them know. To date, complaints have fallen on deaf ears, but if enough of us phone in, we may make a difference.
The local container port has no plans to provide "shore to ship" power for these vessels in the near future despite the fact the Los Angeles dock has enforced this change many years ago.
The new third berth has the capability to house a cable, but that's as far as it goes, and they want to expand again!
The quiet cruise ships downtown are to be provided with mega watts of shore power but our dock isn't under consideration. We are obviously considered the bottom of the food chain.
Please call the above number and make sure we are heard.
John Mayor
