The Dangerous Fantasy of VLCC Supertankers in Dixon Entrance
Call it Dixon Entrance, North Hecate Strait, or the Lost City of Atlantis—anyone insisting this northern BC waterway is suitable for VLCC supertankers is dangerously out of touch with reality.
See the Facts
The Unforgiving Physics of the Ocean
Regardless of what politicians and oil industry advocates infer from lines on a map, there is no ignoring the brutal, unforgiving physics of the ocean.
The waters off northern BC are among the most treacherous in the world—a reality that no amount of optimistic cartography can change.
Dixon Entrance represents a confluence of dangers: shallow shifting shoals, legendary tidal forces, powerful unpredictable currents, and exposure to the full fury of Pacific storms.
These aren't minor inconveniences to be managed—they're fundamental geographic realities that make this route inherently unsuitable for the world's largest tankers.
The Beast: Understanding Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCC) Tankers
Draft Depth
A fully laden VLCC sits dangerously deep in the water, requiring at least 22 metres of clearance below the keel
Average Length
Longer than three football fields, these vessels are massive and sluggish to maneuver
Deadweight Tonnage
Carrying up to 320,000 tonnes of crude oil when fully loaded
These aren't nimble vessels. VLCCs are massive, sluggish beasts that require enormous distances to change course or speed. Their sheer size and weight make them fundamentally unsuited to navigation through narrow, hazardous channels where precision and quick response are essential to survival.
Two million 50-gallon barrels of raw toxic, mutagenic bitumen
A VLCC supertanker isn’t designed for the waters off our coast.
It’s designed for one thing: cheap, long-haul delivery of crude to refineries in Asia. That’s why these floating skyscrapers are built to haul 2–3 million barrels of raw diluted bitumen at a time.
To picture that:
Two million barrels = roughly 16,000 school buses worth of heavy crude.
Sixteen thousand.
But instead of carrying kids, that much bitumen would smother everything it touches.
Bitumen contains toxic, carcinogenic PAHs that poison shellfish, damage fish DNA, and kill seabirds, sea otters, humpbacks, and killer whales. And once it weathers and mixes with sediment — which happens fast in places like Hecate Strait — it sinks, spreads, and becomes almost impossible to recover.
And when the marine life goes, so does the coastal economy that depends on it.
This is why communities up and down the North Coast say the same thing:
A VLCC bitumen spill here wouldn’t be an “incident.” It would be the end of a way of life.
The Narrow Corridor of Death
A Fool's Errand
  • Is there technically a channel deep enough for VLCCs in Dixon Entrance? Yes—but relying on that narrow sliver of deeper water is a fool's errand that ignores every principle of maritime safety.
  • This lone viable shipping lane is an extremely tight needle to thread, a constrictive corridor where one mistake means disaster. It's hemmed in immediately on both sides by notoriously shallow, shifting shoals.
Dogfish Bank
Beside Rose Spit, depths rise sharply to just 12 metres—a catastrophic 10-metre difference from the VLCC's 22-metre draft
Shifting Sediment
These shoals aren't static. Currents and storms constantly reshape the seafloor, creating unpredictable hazards
Zero Margin
With only metres separating safe passage from grounding, there is effectively no room for error
Battling Legendary Forces
To survive this route, a supertanker captain must maintain perfect position in a constrictive corridor while simultaneously battling legendary, massive tides and powerful, unpredictable currents constantly pushing the vessel toward the shallows.
Massive Tidal Forces
Dixon Entrance experiences some of the most powerful tidal flows in North America, with currents that can exceed several knots—enough to overpower even large vessels
Unpredictable Currents
Eddies, cross-currents, and tidal rips create chaotic water conditions that make precise navigation nearly impossible
Pacific Storm Exposure
As the mouth of the Pacific, this area faces the full brunt of severe weather systems and massive ocean swells
Constant Danger
All these forces work simultaneously to push vessels toward disaster. The margin for error is effectively zero
The Engineering Delusion

"Just Dredge It"
Faced with this geometric impossibility, proponents often retreat to a final, desperate argument: "We can just engineer a solution. We will dredge the shoals and widen the channel."
This is perhaps the most dangerous delusion of all.
Dixon Entrance is not a protected harbor or a calm river delta awaiting a dredge. It is an insanely violent body of open water—the mouth of the Pacific itself, subject to ferocious storms, massive swells, and relentless energy that moves millions of tons of sediment at will.
Why Engineering Cannot Fix This
Astronomical Costs
Dredging operations in exposed, violent ocean conditions would require specialized equipment and weather windows that may only occur a few days per year. The costs would be staggering—likely billions of dollars for initial construction alone.
Ultimately Futile
You are fighting an ocean that moves millions of tons of sediment at will. Any channel carved out today could be buried by the next winter storm. Maintaining it would require constant, impossibly expensive re-dredging.
Environmental Catastrophe
Massive dredging would destroy critical marine habitats, disrupt fish migration routes, and create enormous sediment plumes that would devastate local ecosystems for decades.
No Guarantee of Safety
Even with heroic engineering efforts, the fundamental problem remains: you cannot control tides, currents, or storms. The danger would persist indefinitely.
The Numbers Don't Lie
Read the Numbers Again
1
VLCC Draft
The massive ship sits impossibly deep
2
Shoal Depth
Deadly shallows right beside the shipping lane
3
The Gap
Only 10 metres separating safe passage from catastrophe
4
Margin for Error
Effectively zero room for mistakes in a chaotic environment
A massive, impossibly heavy 22-metre deep ship right next to a 12-metre deep shelf, fighting massive tides in a narrow chute, located in one of the world's most aggressive maritime environments.
These aren't abstract concerns or exaggerated fears. They are hard, physical constraints that cannot be wished away by political will or industry lobbying. This is basic mathematics and physics—and the equation doesn't work.
The Bottom Line

Critical Reality Check: This isn't a viable commercial shipping route for shipping toxic bitumen to refineries in China. It is a catastrophic physics problem waiting to happen—one that human engineering cannot "fix."
When industry proponents and politicians point to maps and talk about potential shipping routes through Dixon Entrance, they are engaging in dangerous fantasy. They are ignoring fundamental realities that every marine engineer, ship captain, and oceanographer understands.
The risks aren't hypothetical.
When—not if—a VLCC supertanker runs aground in these waters, we're looking at an environmental catastrophe of unprecedented scale. Millions of barrels of toxic DNA altering sludge spilled into one of the world's most pristine and productive marine ecosystems. Indigenous communities devastated. Fisheries destroyed for generations. Coastal ecosystems obliterated.
And for what? For the convenience of an industry that refuses to acknowledge physical reality?
The ocean doesn't negotiate. Physics doesn't compromise. And the people of coastal BC shouldn't have to gamble their environment, their livelihoods, and their future on a shipping route that fundamentally, demonstrably, does not work.
Take Action Now
The fight to protect BC's northern coast from unsuitable supertanker traffic requires public pressure, political accountability, and continued vigilance. Here's how you can make a difference:
  • Contact your MP and MLA to demand they oppose VLCC traffic through Dixon Entrance
  • Support organizations working to protect coastal waters and marine ecosystems
  • Share this information with your community and on social media
  • Attend public consultations and make your voice heard
  • Support Indigenous-led initiatives to protect traditional territories
Our coastal waters are irreplaceable. The risks of VLCC supertanker traffic through Dixon Entrance are unacceptable.

The time to act is now—before fantasy becomes catastrophe.