Kinder Morgan Canada has increased the size of its proposed pipeline from Edmonton to Burnaby, a plan that could boost tanker traffic by an additional 108 ships a year.

The company plans to increase pipeline capacity to 890,000 barrels per day from 750,000 barrels per day, President Ian Anderson announced Thursday. This is almost triple the capacity of the Trans Mountain pipeline built in 1953, which currently carries 300,000 barrels per day.

Extra capacity is needed to meet demand from Canadian oil companies concerned about their ability to access markets as the U.S. ramps up oil production, Anderson said at a news conference.

The oil will fill up to 34 tankers each month or 408 per year, up from 25 tankers each month or 300 per year under the previous design, Anderson said.

While he’s confident that Kinder Morgan can design and execute a project that will satisfy public concerns, he expects to face some of the same environmental concerns protesters continue to voice over Enbridge’s Northern Gateway pipeline.

“One of the greatest challenges is to demonstrate and convince the public that tanker traffic through Port Metro Vancouver can continue to be done in a safe manner,” he said.

The pipeline will follow the same route as its 1,150 kilometre twin Trans Mountain pipeline, built nearly 60 years ago.

But the new design – which features a 36-inch diameter pipe, six inches bigger than the previous plan – will require fewer pump stations and less energy to move the oil, Anderson said.

Kinder Morgan plans to file an application for the proposed expansion by late 2013 and is meeting with communities in advance. Kinder Morgan is in a different position than Enbridge, Anderson said, because it has existing relationships with those along the route.

“While concerns may be raised, we also have growing support as well,” he said, noting that the company met with First Nations in the Fraser Valley last week.

Yet the Wilderness Committee immediately expressed its strong opposition to the expanded pipeline proposal.

“This is really taking a bad idea and making it worse,” organizer Ben West said. “More tankers means more risk of an oil spill.”

The committee will continue to aggressively rally against the project by holding meetings and writing reports to raise awareness about what’s being proposed, West said.

Ultimately, the pipeline would “would drastically transform the Vancouver harbour into the Vancouver oil harbour,” he said.

The expanded project will cost $5.4 billion, up from the original estimate of $4.1 billion. If approved by the National Energy Board, Kinder Morgan hopes the pipeline will be operational by 2017.