FortisBC supports BC Ferries in the conversion of two vessels to LNG

Mar 24, 2016

VICTORIA, BC – BC Ferries has announced that they have awarded a $140 million contract to Remontowa Ship Repair Yard S.A. of Gdansk, Poland to conduct mid-life upgrades to the Spirit of British Columbia and the Spirit of Vancouver Island  – making them capable of operating on LNG.

Remontowa Ship Repair Yard has a strong record for delivering the required engineering and production capabilities for complex large scale conversion projects on schedule and is well experienced and proven with LNG fuelled ships.  All of these elements factored heavily into the decision of contract award.

“Last fiscal year, we spent approximately $118 million on diesel fuel of which the two Spirit Class vessels consumed approximately 16 per cent,” said Mark Wilson, BC Ferries’ Vice President of Engineering. “The conversion of the two largest ships in the fleet along with the three new dual-fuel Salish-Class vessels currently under construction will go a long way to help with fare affordability for our customers as LNG costs significantly less than marine diesel.”

In order to help make the project financially viable, BC Ferries pursued funding under incentive programs to help offset any incremental capital costs associated with the use of LNG. The company has signed an agreement, subject to certain conditions, to receive up to $10 million contribution from FortisBC Energy Inc. as part of the Natural Gas for Transportation (“NGT”) incentive funding.