Coast Guard intercepts runaway barge near Vancouver’s Sunset Beach

Crews with the Canadian Coast Guard were deployed on Tuesday to help deal with a barge adrift in English Bay near the mouth of False Creek.

A spokesperson for the Coast Guard said it was called about the 200-foot commercial barge around 2:30 p.m., and had a pair of crews from the nearby Kitsilano Base on scene within a few minutes.

Those vessels were able to tie onto the barge and prevent it from running aground on the beach until commercial tugs arrived to pull it back to sea.

0:29 Vancouver’s English Bay Barge nears its end

Photos and video posted to social media showed small Coast Guard patrol vessels intercepting the barge and preventing it from becoming grounded near Sunset Beach, before tug boats arrived.

The Coast Guard said it remains unclear how the barge came loose from its moorings.

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The Port of Vancouver said the barge was secured within about an hour and that there was no pollution risk.

If the barge did make landfall, it wouldn’t be the first time.

In November 2021 a similar barge broke free during powerful windstorms and became lodged on Sunset Beach, where it sat for a year before it was completely dismantled.

0:47 Strong winds push another runaway barge into English Bay

The barge became a popular tourist attraction and the subject of numerous online jokes. The Vancouver Park Board even got in on the fun, temporarily (and jokingly) renaming the beach “Barge Chilling Beach.”

In November 2023 another runaway barge broke free from its moorage buoy in English Bay but was quickly intercepted by a pair of Coast Guard vessels before running aground.