Ship & Bunker - November 21, 2014<\/p>\n
Canada's\u00a0Seaspan Ferries Corporation\u00a0(SFC) on Wednesday\u00a0announced<\/a>\u00a0it has ordered two liquefied natural gas (LNG) powered new-build ferries from\u00a0Turkish\u00a0yard\u00a0Sedef Shipyard\u00a0of\u00a0Istanbul.<\/p>\n SFC said construction of the two, 148.9 metre ferries will commence early next year, with both vessels expected to be in operation by late 2016.<\/p>\n \"One of Seaspan's Core Values is care for the environment and we are committed to ensuring the conservation of Canadian oceans and waterways,\" said\u00a0Steve Roth<\/strong>, Vice President, Seaspan Ferries Corporation.<\/p>\n \"These new, technologically advanced ferries will reduce our greenhouse gas emissions significantly compared to current alternatives while ensuring the highest level of efficiency, performance and reliability.\"<\/p>\n Seaspan CEO\u00a0<\/span>Jonathan Whitworth\u00a0said the decision to have the vessels built by a non-Seaspan shipyard \"was not made lightly\" and was made based on capacity.<\/span><\/p>\n \"We are laser-focused on successfully delivering our multi-year, multi-billion dollar project to build vessels for the men and women of the\u00a0Royal Canadian Navy\u00a0and\u00a0Canadian Coast Guard\u00a0under the National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy (NSPS),\" he said.<\/p>\n \"For the next five to seven years, our new vessel building capacity will be solely dedicated to the NSPS Non-Combat vessels.\"<\/p>\n Last year, fellow\u00a0British Columbia-based ferry company\u00a0BC Ferries\u00a0announced its plans to build three dual-fuel diesel- and LNG-powered ferries<\/a>, noting at the time it could have cut its$121 million\u00a0bunker bill for 2012 in half if it had been using LNG.<\/p>\n