ee

$5M bulk loader destroyed;
taken to VGH in critical condition

couver in May had potash export-

E VOICE OF MORTN AND WES

WINDS GUSTING to 90 km/h Thursday afternoon t
pled and destroyed a $5-million bulk shiploader on the

North Vancouver waterfront.

A Vancouver Wharves
employee who v operating the
shiploader when it collapsed was
listed in critical condition Friday
at Vancouver General Hospital
after falling epproximately 60
feet.

The loss of the equipment could
have a temporary negative impact
on the export of potash through
the port of Vancouver. More than

ee
Soe

REACHING

By Michael Becker
and Fred McCague

one willion tonnes per year pass
through Vancouver Wharves. The
pert’s second potash berth at
Neptune Bulk Terminals is already
ing at full capacit
kK capacity problems in

ER OOGLER

EVERY

NORTH VANCOUVER District Fire Departm

Carol Crenna on
the party season

Photo submitted

firefighters were catied to Vancouver Wharves

Thursday afternoon after gusting winds brought down a shipioader. The accident left one man
in critical condition and destroyed approximately $5 million worth of equipment.

operator

er Canpotex Ltd. making small
shipments of potash through the
port of Longview in Washington
state.
Vancouver
ments m
Thursday
impact is
serious.
But said Vancouver Wharves
vice-president John Mackay, ‘We
have ovo shiploaders on that
berth, an east and aiowest
shiploader. The west s'

port sulphur ship-
also be affected by
accident, although the
expected to be less

Berth No. 5 as
well. It’s goinp !o cause some
short-term disruptions while we
get the debris out of the way.”

The industrial mishap occurred
just after 2 p.m. Thursday.

Shiploader operator Bill Ber-
nier, 57, was loading sulphur into
the hold of a vessel when a safety
alarm sounded, warning workers
of the heavy wind hazard.

Bernier was in the process of
auenipting to move the shiploader
into a safe position when it got
caught by the wind. The floader
was blown off its rails and col-
lapsed, coming to a rest on a pier.

North Vancouver District Fire
Department firefighters removed
the injured man fram the

there. We have

The accident is under investiga-

tion by Labour Canada officials.

Bernier is a member of the In-
ternational Longshoremen’s and
Warehousemen’s Union (ILWU)
Local 500.

Said ILWU_ president Tom
Dufresne, ‘He's been there a long
time — a very safety-conscious
individual and a very good union
member.”

Dufresne said that high winds
brought down a= shiploader at
Neptune Butk Terminals several
years ago in North Vancouver.

“We've got to investigace
whether all the brakes were work-
ing or not. Normally they would
put on a storm brake in a situa-
tion like this — we've got to find
out if they were all working,”” he

scary tomsimen icra,
pier eres,