Victoria, British Columbia-based BC Ferries has announced
that five shipyards, including one in North America, have made the shortlist
for consideration of a contract to build three new liquid natural gas-powered
ferries.
BC Ferries has issued a request for proposals to the five
shipyards to build three intermediate class ferries to replace the 48-year old Queen of Burnaby and the 49-year old Queen of Nanaimo, both of which are
nearing the end of their service lives and are scheduled to be retired in 2016.
The one North American company out of the five pre-qualified
shipyards is Vancouver Shipyards Co., an affiliate of Seaspan Marine Corp.,
which is an association of Canadian companies involved in coastal and deep sea
transportation, bunkering, ship repair and shipbuilding services in Western
North America.
The other four shipyards under consideration are
Fiskerstrand Blrt As, of Norway; Germany-based Flensburger
Schiffbau-Gesellschaft mbH & Co.KG; Remontowa Shipbuilding S.A. of Poland;
and Turkish company Sefine Shipyard.
BC Ferries says it intends to build two vessels capable of
carrying 145 vehicles and up to 600 passengers and crew to replace the two
aging ferries. A third vessel capable of carrying 125 vehicles and up to 600
passengers and crew is also being built to augment peak and shoulder season
service on the Southern Gulf Islands route, plus provide refit relief around
the fleet.
The three would be BC Ferries’ first LNG-powered vessels. In
its request for proposals, BC Ferries stipulated that the three vessels be designed
to operate on either liquefied natural gas or marine diesel oil.
“We expect to operate these new intermediate class ferries
with LNG, which will reduce our fuel costs, and in turn help reduce the upward
pressure on fares,” Mark Wilson, BC Ferries’ Vice President of Engineering
said.
“Currently we operate 18 classes of vessels in a fleet of 35
ships,” Wilson said. “This project is the stepping stone to eventually bring
the fleet into potentially five classes of vessels.”
The RFP closes at the end of February and BC Ferries says it
expects to award a contract next spring. The two-145 vehicle ferries are
expected to enter service in 2016; the 125-vehicle ferry is expected to be in
service in 2017.
