BC yard to build BC ferry

B.C. Ferries in Vancouver, Canada, has plans to purchase a new ferry from a shipyard in North Vancouver and also may file with the ferry commissioner for another fuel surcharge if world fuel prices continue at today’s levels.

The new 110 metre long ferry, will have a carrying capacity for 125 cars and 600 passengers and will replace the aging Queen of Tsawwassen on the Earls Cove-Saltery Bay route, which connects Powell River and Sechelt. Vancouver Shipyards in North Vancouver, a division of Washington Marine Group, is the top contender for building the ferry, which is expected to cost around $50 million. The ferry company has signed a letter of intent with Vancouver Shipyards, but still has to work out some details. The vessel should be delivered in 2007.

Vancouver Shipyards was one of three firms short-listed for the job. The other two were B.C.-based Allied Shipbuilders Ltd. and the Polish company Remontowa. B.C. Ferries faced heavy criticism last year for excluding B.C. shipyards from a $542-million contract to build three Super-C ferries. That job went to the German company Flensburger Schiffbau.