Two months with Vancouver's washed-up barge: Are removal plans stuck?

Two months after a runaway barge got stuck on Vancouver’s shores during a series of historic storms, plans to recover the vessel remain on the rocks.
“The removal is a complex issue, with several factors to consider in addition to tide levels, including safety, security and environmental protection,” Transport Canada’s Sau Sau Liu wrote in an email to CTV News.
Following several failed attempts to remove the barge, it remains grounded between English Bay and Sunset Beach, where it first parked on Nov. 15, 2021. It’s gained celebrity status to the point that, as recently as Sunday, “Barge on the Beach” T-shirts were selling for $20 each on the nearby seawall.
Transport Canada reiterated Monday that the owner is responsible for removing the vessel. CTV News reached out to Sentry Marine Towing Ltd several times for comment, with no success.
“It’s a complex situation,” said the City of Vancouver’s Jeannine Guérette, mimicking the language from federal officials. “Many considerations are being taken into account including safety and environmental protection."
The city is tracking all costs related to the barge, and plans to bill the owner for reimbursement, Guérette added.
In the meantime, one Canada Research Chair professor warned the barge could put nearby ecosystems at risk.
“There’s surely chemicals on board that could leach out, and the amount of rust that could occur in salt water over a couple of months is probably enough to affect nearby ecosystems,” said Kai Chan, a professor at UBC’s Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability (IRES).
Many problems like this, Chan argued, comes down to a lack of transparency with environmental data.
“We’re just left completely in the dark,” said Chan, adding that Transport Canada has a lot of problems to solve in B.C. “It’s amazing how long governments can let crap like this go on. If it’s not killing anybody, it’s the kind of thing they can ignore for years and years.”
The barge has also renewed discussions over reconciliation efforts, in the wake of Vancouver’s park board putting up a temporary “Barge Chilling Beach” sign in the area on Dec.15.
Someone spray-painted the word “Í7iy̓el̓shn,” which social media users identified as a local Indigenous name for the area, onto the sign on Jan. 3, and again this past weekend. On Twitter, members of the Indigenous community explained why the park board's sign isn’t amusing for everyone.
“This barge sign was a fun joke but the work of decolonizing isn’t fun, it’s been harmful to be Indigenous to Vancouver yet utterly erased,” Ginger Gosnell-Myers, a fellow with SFU’s Urban Indigenous Policy/Planning, wrote after the first graffiti incident. Vancouver has faced growing calls to post signage acknowledging and reflecting traditional Indigenous names in the city.
Following the same incident, Vancouver Councillor Sarah Kirby-Yung tweeted, “I’m so fed up. This sign was a small thing that provided some levity & smiles during a tough time. We need more kindness, not the opposite."
Depending on who is asked, the barge is a perceived affront to reconciliation; a silly backdrop for selfies and marriage proposals; a stark reminder of climate change sticking out like a sore thumb in downtown Vancouver.
Or, as the city puts it, it's a "complex situation" that’s short on solutions.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Brokenhearted husband dies after wife slain in Texas rampage
Fourth-grade teacher Irma Garcia was killed in her Texas classroom on Tuesday, massacred along with her co-teacher and 19 students. Two days later, a family member says her brokenhearted husband died.

'Horrifying experience': 10-year-old boy recounts hiding during deadly Texas school shooting
A 10-year-old boy in a classroom just down the hallway from the room where a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas on Tuesday said the experience of hiding during the shooting was 'terrifying.'
Trudeau signals new gun-control changes coming; here's what the Liberals have promised
In the wake of a horrific mass shooting at an elementary school in Texas, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has signalled that the Canadian government will be moving ahead on new gun-control measures 'in the coming weeks.' In previous Parliaments, the Liberals have made changes to Canada's gun laws, but in the 2021 federal election, Trudeau promised to go further.
Man fatally shot by police near Toronto elementary school after reportedly walking streets with rifle
One man is dead after being shot by police near a Toronto elementary school on Thursday afternoon. The incident sent hundreds of students into lockdown.
Canadian gymnast alleges sexual, emotional abuse by coach
Former Canadian gymnast Abby Pearson Spadafora said on Thursday she had suffered years of abuse at the hands of Olympic coach Dave Brubaker and his wife Elizabeth and called for an independent investigation of the sport.
Stars and royalty watch ABBA's return in digital stage show
Four decades after the Swedish pop supergroup last performed live, audiences can once again see ABBA onstage in an innovative digital concert where past and future collide.
NRA opens gun convention in Texas after school massacre
The National Rifle Association begins its annual convention in Houston on Friday, and leaders of the powerful gun-rights lobbying group are gearing up to "reflect on" -- and deflect any blame for -- the deadly shooting earlier this week of 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.
Russian plane grounded indefinitely at Toronto Pearson racking up huge parking bill
A massive Russian plane that was grounded at Toronto Pearson International Airport back in February is racking up a substantial parking bill.
Twitter shareholders sue Musk, say he 'deflated' stock price
Twitter shareholders have filed a lawsuit accusing Elon Musk of engaged in 'unlawful conduct' aimed at sowing doubt about his bid to buy the social media company.