Vancouver, British Columbia-based Western Canada Marine Response Corp. christened its newest oil spill response vessel in Burrard Inlet on Sept. 1.
The $4.5 million G.M. Penman is a 65-foot Ocean Class oil spill response vessel built by Rozema Boat Works of Mount Vernon, Wash. It’s only the fifth vessel of its kind in the world, with its sister vessels servicing offshore production platforms off the coast of Santa Barbara, Calif.
“The 65-foot OSRVs are smaller, faster and more cost effective than older unsheltered water vessels,” Western Canada Marine Response President and General Manager Kevin Gardner said in a prepared statement. “The G.M. Penman provides WCMRC with improved open water rapid response and night time operations capacity.”
The G.M. Penman has a recorded top speed of 26 knots when traveling to an incident. Once on-scene, the boom arms can be deployed within minutes. Two onboard Lamor skimming brushes have a combined skimming capacity of 32.8 tons per hour, according to Western Canada Marine Response. It’s also the first vessel in WCMRC’s fleet that can operate continuously for multiple days in open water before requiring resupplies, according to the company.
It joins WCMRC’s fleet of 32 spill response vessels, including two other Rozema-built vessels — the 47-foot Bay Class OSRVs Eagle Bay and M.J. Green. It will conduct sea trials in Vancouver prior to being deployed to one of WCMRC’s West Coast satellite response bases.
