Vancouver Island News

In 2021, Trans Mountain, on behalf of shippers for the Trans Mountain Expansion Project (TMEP), awarded KOTUG Canada Inc. a long-term contract to provide escort towage services for tankers that load crude oil at Trans Mountain’s Westridge Marine Terminal.Trans Mountain operates Canada’s only oil pipeline servicing the West Coast of Canada providing tidewater access to foreign markets for Canada’s petroleum resources.Under the agreement, KOTUG Canada, which is a partnership between KOTUG International B.V.

Norway-based Zinus announced it has secured a contract to supply shore power technology and autonomous solutions for Canada's Seaspan Ferries. Seaspan Ferries serves the Vancouver Island supply chain and with a commercial ferry service. The contract includes the supply of three Zinus Autonomous Solution units, consisting of three ZPP700 Automatic Telescopic Charging Towers and three SWC100 Autonomous Onboard Receiver systems. These advanced technologies will enable quick and autonomous…

SAAM Towage Canada announced it has acquired Standard Towing Ltd. and Davies Tugboat Ltd. Both companies provide harbor, shipdocking and towage services on the West Coast of Canada.“Through this acquisition we are adding three Canadian built tugboats to the fleet which are in excellent condition. In addition, SAAM Towage will expand our service area to Northern Vancouver Island. This strengthens our overall position in British Columbia,” said the President of SAAM Towage Canada…

Marine services and towage firm KOTUG Canada Inc., a partnership between KOTUG International and Canada’s Horizon Maritime Inc., has won a long-term agreement with Trans Mountain, operator of Canada’s only oil pipeline servicing the West Coast of Canada providing tidewater access to foreign markets for Canada’s petroleum resources. KOTUG Canada will provide escort towage to tankers loaded at Westridge Marine Terminal. "KOTUG Canada was selected for this purpose by shippers on the Trans Mountain Pipeline after a rigorous and competitive process facilitated by Trans Mountain.

More than 100 containers have been lost from a fire-stricken containership off British Columbia, well above original estimates, the Canadian Coast Guard said.Initial reports indicated that the Malta-flagged Zim Kingston lost roughly 40 boxes near the Strait of Juan de Fuca, on October 22, after heavy weather caused the vessel to list 35 degrees while traveling from Busan, South Korea to Vancouver, Canada.A fire that broke out on board on October 23 led to the loss of additional containers, and by Wednesday the Canadian Coast Guard said the number of lost boxes has risen to 109.

Bad weather off Canada's Pacific Coast on Monday prevented a salvage crew from boarding a cargo ship where several containers of chemicals burned over the weekend, the coast guard said.Sixteen crew members were evacuated from the MV Zim Kingston on Saturday. Five remained onboard to fight the fire, which was largely under control by late Sunday.The company has appointed a salvage crew "but due to the current weather, (they) have been unable to board the container ship", the coast…

A container fire that broke out on Saturday on a cargo ship carrying mining chemicals off British Columbia is smoldering and appears to be under control, Canadian Coast Guard officials said on Sunday.Sixteen crew members were evacuated from the MV Zim Kingston on Saturday, while five remained onboard to fight the fire.The ship is anchored several kilometers off the southern coast of Vancouver Island. Residents of the island are not in danger, officials said, and transit of commercial…

Canadian operator Seaspan Ferries Corporation said it will be the first to trial Corvus Energy’s new Blue Whale ESS, featuring a unique rack-free design of stacking modular blocks to provide higher volumetric battery room energy density and, consequently, maximized passenger or payload capacity.The new large-scale energy storage system (ESS)—a battery system designed for large ships with high zero-emission energy demand, such as cruise ships, large Ro-Pax and Ro-Ro ferries and cargo ships—will be installed on board Seaspan Reliant…

Canadian ferry operator BC Ferries said its newest vessel, Island Aurora, officially entered service Thursday on the Port McNeill - Alert Bay - Sointula (Vancouver Island-Cormorant Island-Malcolm Island) route. This follows last week’s start of service for sister vessel Island Discovery on the Texada Island-Powell River run.The two new ferries are the first in the company’s new Island Class, based on Damen’s 81-meter Road Ferry 8117E3 design and built at Damen Shipyards Galati in Romania.

Wärtsilä said it booked an order in January to provide an integrated system consisting of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant, dual-fuel engines and electrical propulsion system for the latest addition to Vancouver, Canada based BC Ferries’ series of Salish Class vessels.Three similar ferries, all operating on Wärtsilä engines fueled by LNG, have already been delivered. As with the previous three ferries, Remontowa Shipbuilding (RSB), located in Gdansk, Poland, will also build this latest ship.The Wärtsilä scope of supply includes three Wärtsilä 20DF dual-fuel engines…

Corvus Energy reports it has been selected by Damen Shipyards to supply the energy storage system (ESS) for four new battery-hybrid ferries for BC Ferries.BC Ferries placed a repeat order with Damen Shipyards Group for four Damen Road Ferries 8117 E3 design—known by BC Ferries as the 'Island Class' vessels. The diesel-electric hybrid ferries are prepared for fully battery-powered, zero-emissions operation in the future. Until electrical charging systems are in place, the ferries…

Damen Shipyards Group has won a repeat order from B.C. Ferries for four additional Damen Road Ferries 8117 E3, also known as the “Island Class vessels”. The diesel-electric hybrid ferries follow two such vessels that the client ordered from Damen in 2017. The four new vessels will provide inter-island ferry services between Vancouver and Vancouver Island.“The fact that Damen had designed the original two island class ferries for BC Ferries, positioned us well to start building very quickly," said Leo Postma, Sales Manager, Damen.

Canadian liquefied natural gas (LNG) provider FortisBC has joined SEA\LNG, a multi-sector industry coalition accelerating the widespread adoption of LNG as a marine fuel.Peter Keller, Chairman, SEA\LNG, said: “We’re pleased to welcome FortisBC to the SEA\LNG coalition. Our North American member network grows as the appetite for LNG as marine fuel expands across the globe.”FortisBC brings to the coalition nearly 45 years’ experience in LNG production in Western Canada. It owns and operates two LNG facilities on the west coast; its Tilbury LNG facility began operations in 1971, while it’s Mount Hayes facility on Vancouver Island launched operations in 2011.Douglas Stout…

The future Capt. Jacques Cartier, the second of three Offshore Fisheries Science Vessels (OFSV) to be designed and built by Seaspan at its Vancouver Shipyards (VSY), began sea trials on October 10, 2019 from Seaspan’s Vancouver Drydock where final outfitting, set to work and commissioning has taken place since its launch in June.“With the future Capt. Jacques Cartier headed out to sea today, excitement in our NSS program is growing,” said Mark Lamarre, CEO, Seaspan Shipyards.

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. The new ferries will join the company’s first two hybrid vessels, “Seaspan Swift” and “Seaspan Reliant”, which were commissioned just over two years ago. Seaspan Ferries currently operates a fleet of seven ferries out of four terminals in British Columbia…

Canada's Seaspan Ferries will add two new Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) - battery hybrid ferries to its fleet in 2021.The vessels will be constructed by Damen Shipyards Gorinchem B.V. at their Mangalia Shipyard in Romania, said a press release from the marine transportation services provider.With construction scheduled to begin in 2019, the vessels are expected to go into operation in 2021. They will join the Seaspan Swift and the Seaspan Reliant, the company’s first hybrid ferries, commissioned just over two years ago.Since introducing these vessels to their fleet, Seaspan Ferries has been able to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions…

Canadian ferry owner and operator British Columbia Ferry Services Inc (BC Ferries) will be building up to five new ferries to replace four existing vessels.The provider of all major passenger and vehicle ferry services for coastal and island communities in the Canadian province of British Columbia said in a press release that it invites customers and communities to join conversations about the new vessels and to provide input that will help shape their future onboard experience."The new ferries will potentially add capacity to the Metro Vancouver – Vancouver Island routes and replace the Queen of New Westminster, Queen of Alberni, Queen of Coquitlam and Queen of Cowichan that currently serve those routes…

The ferry business, unlike more industrial parts of the shipping business, touches wide swaths of the world’s population across continents. The membership of Interferry, the leading trade group for the industry, with non-Governmental organization (NGO) status at the International Maritime Organization (IMO) includes 200+ members from all parts of the ferry spectrum. These include passenger ferries (including fast ferries), Ro/Pax and cruise ferries operating globally. In selecting “the best” we looked beyond the league tables of “the most” (passengers) and “the biggest” (fleet size).

Fast and comfortable to Heligoland with Halunder JetThe work took just over a year, the big day becomes finally reality: the successor to the former HALUNDER JET is ready. Around 250 shipyard employees and 60 employees from Förde Reederei Seetouristik, Flensburg, Germany, worked on the catamaran in the AUSTAL shipyard in Cebu. After 15 years of loyal service, the company, FRS, finally said goodbye to the old HALUNDER JET in the fall of 2017. It was hauled to the west coast of America…

Marine electronics manufacturer Navico has appointed Steve Rae to the position of Country Manager for Canada.Based in Vancouver Island, B.C., Rae will be responsible for sales, service and support for the company’s three marine electronics brands, Lowrance, Simrad and B&G. In addition, he will oversee a new Edmonton-based Navico service center that will open on May 30.Rae has been involved with Navico brands since 1988, managing Canadian sales and service for Lowrance. In 2008…

Island Raider, the newest articulating tug in Island Tug and Barge’s (ITB) fleet, was christened September 28, during an afternoon ceremony at ITB’s headquarters in Burnaby, B.C.The new vessel is first of two in a series built by on-site at ITB’s Annacis Island facility along the Fraser River. The Island Raider, along with its sister the Island Regent (delivery February, 2019), was designed by renown Robert Allan Limited naval architects and marine engineers of Vancouver, B.C. to be paired with ITB’s double-hulled oil tank barge, the ITB Resolution, as an articulated tug and barge (ATB).

Spirit of British Columbia, one of two BC Ferries vessels that will use liquefied natural gas (LNG) as fuel, has finished conversion at the Remontowa Ship Repair Yard S.A. in Gdansk, Poland and has returned to service for the Canadian operator.The 1993-built ro-pax ferry Spirit of British Columbia was the first to undergo conversion while its sister vessel, the Spirit of Vancouver Island, is expected to complete conversion during the spring of 2019. The 550-foot ABS-classed vessels are the largest ships in the BC Ferries fleet with a capacity to carry 2…

Following five weeks of repair and installation activities, Seaspan’s Vancouver Drydock (VDC) has completed its refit activities on Louis Dreyfus’ Ile de Batz Special Purpose/Cable Layer vessel. Arriving on April 21 and departing VDC on-schedule on May 25, 2017, the Paris, France-based vessel underwent a wide scope of work that included the assembly of a new plow (special insitu welding/machining), overall support for mobilizing the ship, as well as the primary focus of the refit program, the installation of a Ballast Water Treatment (BWT) system – the first of its kind at VDC. “This innovative repair and maintenance project truly was an all-hands-on-deck job…