Page 29: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (February 2019)

FERRY OPERATORS • The World’s Best

MORE THAN HALF OF

WASHINGTON STATE

FERRIES’ 23-VESSEL

FLEET IS SCHEDULED

TO BE RETIRED BY 2040. ThE FERRY sYs-

TEM NEEds 16 NEw vEssEls iN ThE

Suquamish in Elliott Bay

NExT 20 YEARs, IN- during sea trials in July 2018.

CLUDING 13 FERRIES

Photo: Washington State

Department of Transportation

TO REPLACE VESSELS

DUE FOR RETIREMENT

AND THREE ADDITION-

AL VESSELS …cAlls

FoR ElEcTRiFYiNg

ThE FERRY FlEET To

REdUcE FUEl UsE,

EMissioNs, NoisE

ANd MAiNTENANcE cosTs.”

C

M

Y

CM

MY as far as north as Prince Rupert, is con-

CY verting two of its largest vessels to LNG.

Its Spirit of British Columbia (2,100

CMY passengers/crew and 358 cars capacity)

K returned to service in June, 2018 after being converted at the Remontowa Ship

Repair Yard S.A., in Gdansk to run on

LNG. The vessel is serving the Vancou- ver (Tsawwassen) to Victoria (Swartz

Bay) run. Its sister vessel, Spirit of

Vancouver Island, is expected to com- plete its conversion in mid 2019. Three smaller vessels, dual fueled with LNG or low sulfur diesel fuel, Salish Orca, Sal- ish Eagle, and Salish Raven (each 600 passengers/ crew and 138 cars capacity serving other parts of the system) were delivered to BC Ferries from the Polish yard, all in 2017.

Ferry operators in the San Francisco

Bay region are at the forefront of moves to non-fossil fuel sources, especially re- newable diesel (fuel made from animal fats and greases, for example). A num- ber of the operators around the Bay Area are in the early stages of this transition, in 2019- these include private operators

Hornblower, Golden Gate Ferry, Blue and Gold, and the municipal operator www.marinelink.com 29