BC Ferries to Invite Provincial Shipbuilding Companies to Bid for Island Class Ships



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BC's shipbuilding industry will soon obtain another BC Ferries franchise.

The company plans to replace three aging vessels serving inter-island routes, including Mayne Queen, Powell River Queen and Bowen Queen. All three were built in 1965.

Although the exact number of new ships to be built is not known for two weeks, a public consultation on the desired service levels helps to determine this figure. clbad ships and carry up to 44 vehicles and 300 pbadengers and crew members.

Two of these ships are being built in Romania by Damen Shipyards Group, based in the Netherlands, for the replacement of ships using northern Gulf routes. Victoria's Maritime Point Hope has won the contract for the maintenance of ships for warranty work.

Other B.C. Companies will have the opportunity to bid for the construction of many island clbad vessels that will be built for BC Ferries while it gradually refits its fleet.

"Even though [two ships] are built in other shipyards, we are going," says Mark Wilson, vice president of strategy and community engagement at BC Ferries.

The procurement process begins with a manifestation of interest followed by a request for pre-commercialization. -qualifications, where the history and capabilities of a company are evaluated, and finally a request for proposals. Wilson noted that the three steps for smaller vessels should be done by the end of 2018, and new vessels must be in place by 2021.

The Queen Powell River is one of the ships that will be replaced by BC Ferries. (BC Ferries)

Five large Clbad C ships, including Queen of Cowichan, Queen of Coquitlam, Queen of Oak Bay, Queen of Alberni and Queen of New Westminster, will also need to be replaced. These ships, built between 1964 and 1976, serve between Departure Bay and Horseshoe Bay, Duke Point and Tsawwbaden, as well as Tsawwbaden and Swartz Bay. Wilson says that the procurement process for the construction of these vessels is late, although a request for proposals for a design consultant has been made.

"We are essentially looking for a consultant to help us explore diesel, LNG and other options," he said, comparing this to hiring a specialist to help a person look at the cars before making a purchase.

Any type of procurement process for larger vessels is at least a year and a half. "Premier John Horgan said on Wednesday that he would prefer to see ships being built in British Columbia, after the previous Liberal government spent 16 years hiring foreign firms in Germany and Poland to build ships in British Columbia.

"The capacity of the British Columbia. shipbuilding industry is not what it was, but I have good hope that we will be able to work with BC Ferries and the shipbuilding industries to participate in tender calls in to the extent that we can, "he s

W they said BC Ferries also hopes that they can contract in BC "" If the local industry is competitive, and hopefully that's the case, it will go to the local people " , did he declare. "But the price is one of the considerations here because it affects the price for ferry users."

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