A visit to Delta Port

This week John and Renee Olthuis from Victoria came to visit the Mission at Delta Port. John and Renee have been long time supporters of the Ministry to Seafarers and we appreciate their support so much.

If any one of you are interested in seeing the Port, the Mission or if you would like to visit a ship, please contact me. I promise, You won't be disappointed!

Meeting again

I walked into the galley of the MV OASIS OCEAN today and when the cook saw me, the first thing he said to me was: "Thanks for the tomatoes you gave me three years ago!" I asked him: "Would you like to have some more?" Of course he did!

It is a great blessing for me to have access to "gifts" like these through my contacts with some greenhouses here in Delta. I was also able to deliver a Bible and other Christian literature that he asked for.

600.000.000 tonnes of coal!

Last Friday I was invited by the captain of the MV KAMASHIO, a 200,000 tonne bulk carrier for a very special occasion. To date 600,000,000 million tons of coal has been shipped from Deltaport since the start of Westshore Terminals in 1970. The MV KAMASHIO will be carrying the 600,000,000 millionth one.

Imagine how much coal there is on (or in) the earth. While this huge amount of coal is being transported from only one terminal, think of all the other coal terminals around the world.

I'm standing in the picture with the captain, some officers, Westshore Terminal management and some shipping agents.

M/V UNIQUE CARRIER

The MV Unique Carrier, with a crew from India, will be leaving today with 185,000 tonnes of coal for a power plant in Israel. The voyage will take about 50 days.

On board the ship I met the second mate's wife. Because she does not have a Canadian visa she is not allowed to leave the ship - not even to visit the seafarers center. At home the couple have a one and a half year old daughter that they had to leave behind with her parents. She was desperate to talk to her parents and hear about the well being of their daughter, whom she missed very much. I offered to come on board the ship that evening with my cell phone. What I thought would take half an hour turned into more than 2 1/2 hours of conversations with their family and a host of other friends. But I understood; she will not be able to talk to their family and friends for the next 50 days.