Shipyards

With a good staple of tugs, fishing boats, barges, ferries, cruise ships and naval and coast guard vessels keeping B.C.’s shipyards busy, it was a good report all round in this snapshot of the shipbuilding and repair industry on Canada’s West Coast.

SCHOTTEL has been chosen as propulsion supplier for two new build Ro-Ro ferries under construction at Damen Shipyards Mangalia, Romania. Each of the vessels ordered by Canadian Seaspan Ferries Corporation will be propelled by two SCHOTTEL Combi Drives and two SCHOTTEL Transverse Thrusters.

When Byron Bolton first started out in the marine industry little could he have known that he would end up as the largest heavy-gauge aluminum boat manufacturer in North America. With four companies making up the Bolton Marine Group — KingFisher Boats, Renaissance Marine Group Inc. (which includes Duckworth, Weldcraft and Northwest Boats), Armstrong Marine USA Inc., and the most recent acquisition of Daigle Marine — Bolton is able to share insights on the aluminum boat building market for recreational boating, commercial use, law enforcement and military applications on both sides of the border.

Through this transaction, Point Hope Maritime has acquired EDC’s key assets and has been fortunate to also bring on the core team of employees which will help to ensure the successful operations of this new division of Point Hope Maritime. 

Seaspan Shipyards (Seaspan) and the Government of Canada celebrated the official handover of the first Offshore Fisheries Science Vessel (OFSV), the CCGS Sir John Franklin to the Canadian Coast Guard (Coast Guard). An official handover ceremony took place aboard the vessel attended by the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, senior officials from the Coast Guard, Seaspan and supply chain partners.

Industry Insight: A passion for boats, a head for business…Byron Bolton, CEO, Bolton Marine Group…Bolton shares insights into the aluminium boat building market for recreational boating, commercial use, law enforcement and military applications on both sides of the border.

Damen is building two LNG-Hybrid RoRo Ferries for Seaspan at Damen Shipyards Mangalia. These two innovative 149-metre vessels will join Seaspan’s fleet with 1,034 lane metres and have 209m3 LNG storage onboard as well as 2 megawatt hours of battery capacity. They will go into service for Seaspan Ferries as part of the company’s fleet replacement program. The vessels will be classed by Bureau Veritas and will go into operation in 2021 with construction starting in 2019.

OSI Maritime Systems (OSI) announced the signing of a contract with Thales Canada (Thales) to provide Integrated Bridge and Navigation Systems (IBNS) for the Royal Canadian Navy’s (RCN) new Joint Support Ships (JSS) program, being built by Seaspan’s Vancouver Shipyards (VSY) under the National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSS).

The Association of British Columbia Marine Industries (ABCMI), in partnership with BC Ferries, hosted a forum on May 14, 2019, to showcase business opportunities with BC Ferries for the Province’s industry, as well as the delivery of products and services to the company. Over 110 industry partners participated at the one-day event held at the Delta Ocean Pointe Hotel in Victoria.

In the space of just a few weeks, two, 81-metre road ferries for the Canadian ferry operator BC Ferries have been launched at Damen Shipyards Galati and are now being fitted out ahead of entering service next year. Once operational they will be capable of carrying up to 300 passengers and crew, and 47 vehicles.