BC Ferries has revealed that it is taking preliminary steps ahead of placing orders for five new ro-pax ferries.
On Tuesday it issued a request for proposals for naval architect and engineering support to develop construction bid packages and to review proposals from shipyards.
The company told the Vancouver Sun newspaper this week that it was the first step in rolling out a new vessel construction bid package. It added that while the company didn’t have a firm timeline for the selection of a shipyard, it hoped to have the first of the five ferries in service by 2024.
The new ships will replace BC Ferries’ existing C-Class ferries, a series of 139-meter ro-pax vessels built in Canada between 1976 and 1981. The vessels carry between 1,200 and 1,494 passengers depending on their individual designs.
LNG propulsion will likely be selected as the company has indicated that LNG is its way forward in the future. Three 600-passenger coastal ferries built at Remontowa Ship Yard in Poland two years ago were equipped with LNG propulsion plants.
BC Ferries has also recently converted one of its two 2,100-passenger Spirit-class ferries to run on LNG. The work was undertaken at Remontowa and the second Spirit-Class ferry will undergo a similar conversion there during 2019.
As a former provincial Crown corporation, now operating as an independently managed, publicly owned entity, BC Ferries has always faced strong pressure to build its vessels in Canada. However, the country’s lack of capable shipbuilding capacity has seen it order larger ferries at European yards in recent years.
