By
Rebecca Gibson |
BC Ferries has contracted Vancouver Pile Driving and Ruskin Construction to construct two cable ferry berths at the Buckley Bay and Denman West terminals in Canada.
As part of the CAD15.2 million project, Vancouver Pile Driving will supply two concrete floating pontoons. Ruskin Construction will construct the two berths, expand the Denman West holding compound and carry out all associated upland development. Pontoon construction will begin shortly and is expected to be complete this summer, while the terminal is scheduled for completion in autumn.
“We followed a fair and competitive tendering process for the terminal work to ensure we would receive high quality construction at a competitive price,” said Mark Wilson, BC Ferries’ vice president of engineering. “We are pleased that the successful bidders for these projects are located here in British Columbia.”
Seaspan’s Vancouver Shipyards expects to begin construction work on the new CAD15 million cable ferry in June 2014, while the 78.5m vessel is due for delivery in the first quarter of 2015. Scheduled to be operational by summer 2015, the ferry will accommodate up to 50 vehicles and 150 passengers.
“The cable ferry system will provide substantial cost savings of more than CAD80 million over the 40-year life of the project compared to the current service, and these significant cost savings of CAD2 million per year will help reduce pressure on future fare increases across the coastal ferry system,” said Wilson.