On Sept. 29, Seaspan Marine unveiled the newest addition to its marine fleet – a 16,000-ton barge named Seaspan 252 – during an official commissioning ceremony at Seaspan’s North Vancouver barge maintenance terminal.
The 374-by-90-foot bulk barge is the largest of its kind in Canada, and can carry the equivalent of 1,454 dump truck loads of limestone.
The Seaspan 252, an open ocean, ABS classed + A1 barge, is the company’s fourth new barge over the past 10 months, following Seaspan 211 and Seaspan 212 in June and Solid 66 in late 2014.
The four new barges add a total of 44,000 tons of barging capacity and an almost 50 percent rise in volume to Seaspan’s fleet. The additional barges increase Seaspan’s ability to handle specialty and project cargo and prepare the company to meet the needs of both its current customers, as well as those in the LNG business.
Seaspan 252 was commissioned by Linda Peters, wife of Daniel Peters, a vice president of manufacturing with Ash Grove Cement Co. The barge is scheduled to enter service later this month for Ash Grove, hauling lime rock from Texada Island to Portland and Seattle.
“Today’s celebration exemplifies our latest investment in the future of British Columbia’s marine sector,” Seaspan CEO Jonathan Whitworth said during the ceremony. “With the addition of four large barges to our fleet in less than a year, Seaspan continues to help drive Canada’s marine industrial base.”
