The objective of this project was to develop a risk assessment methodology that can be used across Canada to provide a consistent and efficient method to assess the risk posed by vessels of concern (VOC). The risk assessment methodology assesses the level of risk posed by the VOC to the local environment, economy, public safety and socio-cultural impacts, including impacts to Indigenous Communities. The risk assessment has five different phases that are used to assess the risk posed by the vessel. A GIS-based tool was also developed to assess the VOCs in the field and provide a real time evaluation of the risk score. This presentation will describe the risk assessment and the scoring tool.

David Creber, Marine Risk Management Lead, Dillon Consulting Limited
David Creber is an environmental engineer and biologist with over 15 years of consulting experience. He is Dillon’s Marine Aquatic Risk Management Leader and has extensive experience completing and managing a wide variety of marine studies including marine oil spill risk assessments, oil spill contingency planning and response, marine spatial planning studies and transportation of dangerous good risk assessments. Dave was a technical lead on the area risk assessment methodology and regional risk assessment methodology for ship-source oil spills in Canada and has worked with various levels of government and the response organizations across Canada developing oil spill response plans.

Wave agitation is a key factor in port planning and design. To assess wave conditions in the harbour area, a numerical model has been widely used and has been recognized as a reliable tool to predict waves in the harbour area. However, wave problems can be complicated. For example, when waves penetrate the harbour area the wave energy in the harbour basin can be reduced due to breakwater sheltering or wave diffraction. However, wave agitation can be caused by unusually long waves, wind waves, or reflection from harbour structures, etc.

Long waves may be significant in ocean faced coastal harbours. If it occurs in the harbour, it may cause large boat movement and the wave agitation can be much worse than expected. Harbours in Denmark, Mauritania, and Taiwan will be discussed.

Wind waves are usually not a big issue for large commercial vessels. However, frequent wind waves can be a significant hazard to small boats in fishing harbours or marinas. In this case, a fishing harbour in Qatar will be discussed

Wave reflections from structures can cause unexpected reflection and very bad consequences to the harbour structures or boat operations. A marina in Abu Dhabi and a fishing harbour in the Bay of Fundy will be discussed.

In this presentation, numerical models will be used to demonstrate the problems in each case.

Zhenyong Yang, Senior Coastal Engineer, GEMTEC Consulting Engineers Ltd.
Zhenyong Yang is a senior coastal engineer at GEMTEC Consulting Engineers Ltd. He is an expert in coastal modelling and design, including metocean study, nearshore and harbour waves, hydrodynamics, coastal sediment transport, assessment of the impact of future climate change, shoreline protection, breakwater design, etc. He has more than 30 years experience and has worked on many projects in different parts of the world.

Infrequently does Canada add an entirely new class of warship to its Defence arsenal, and recently the Government of Canada did just that, embracing a new class of vessel with its Arctic Offshore Patrol Ship (AOPS) program. This program speaks directly to the government’s mandate for preservation of Arctic presence and sovereignty of our northern nation.

As a plane needs a hangar, a warship needs a berth, to establish readiness as it meets its call for operations with the Department of National Defence (DND). The AOPS vessels are being constructed by IRVING at its ocean-side facility adjacent Her Majesty’s Canadian (HMC) Dockyard in Halifax, Nova Scotia, which will also serve as a berth for the AOPS vessels as they emerge off the line starting in the summer of 2019.

The berth for the vessels will be Jetty NJ, which has been under design and construction for several years, reaching substantial completion in summer 2019. While a new construction, this is hardly a new jetty space, but is rather laden with history in the Canadian military. The space occupied by Jetty NJ was formally part of wartime construction process in Halifax in the late 1940s, and offered two berths at that time – Jetty NJ and NK. Being of traditional timber pile construction, these jetties, while having served well, met their life expectancy and were deemed unsafe and subsequently demolished in January 2004. The space was later envisioned to berth the new Joint support ship (JSS), however, later became established as the future multi-purpose berth for AOPS vessels, where they would reside in a 2x2 configuration.

NJ was designed several years ago in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. A modern jetty requires not only a space to tie up, but also numerous services such as water, steam, and wired communications, all fed via subsurface tunnel systems. In the case of NJ, a new high voltage feed and substation was also required.

The tender for construction took place in 2015, being awarded in June of that same year. This was the most significant undertaking of marine construction by DND in quite some time. It went very well, and, like most construction projects, was met with interesting challenges. The project experienced acute intersections in the domains of provincial environmental regulations on sodium, the realities of effects on marine habitat and aquatic life (lending to compensation), and the impact of subsea blasting to the local community when it quickly garnered awareness to a portion of residents of the Halifax peninsula. To meet these challenges, a plethora of stakeholders were involved and the project demanded strategic planning, foresight, and a refined approach to communication and collaboration among all parties. These elements were paramount in realizing the successful delivery of Jetty NJ in 2019, having surmounted all challenges.

Lorne Oram, Project Manager, Department of National Defence

Born in the Maritimes, Lorne is a seasoned engineer and project manager with a diverse background. He commenced his career in energy management, followed by stints at universities, doing software for a defence company, and spent years in telecom research and development.

He's now at more than a decade of tenure with the Department of National Defence (DND). As a project manager with DND, Lorne has marked his contributions on a national ship program, on architecture to deliver DND's first satellite and ground system, and also on a host of large capital infrastructure projects for DND.

Lorne's seeming variety of interests is actually quite focussed - it's a passion for project management, rallying people, and delivering. He's a Registered Professional Engineer (P.Eng), a Project Management Professional (PMP), and as a lover of academia - a graduate of three universities. His greatest motivation is found when someone tells him he can't do something!