HaiSea Marine’s second of three electric tugboats which will serve the Shell-led LNG Canada project is on its way to Canada.
Turkey’s Sanmar Shipyards said in a statement on August 14 it has delivered HaiSea Wee’git to the joint venture majority owned by the Haisla Nation and partner Seaspan ULC.
The first ship in this batch of three tugs, HaiSea Wamis, is already in Vancouver.
Sanmar said it plans to deliver the third electric tug, HaiSea Brave, later this year as part of a deal for five tugs with HaiSea Marine, which also includes the LNG powered tugs Haisea Kermode and Haisea Warrior, Canada’s first LNG tugboats.
Like its sister vessels, HaiSea Wee’git is based on the ElectRA 2800SX design from Vancouver-headquartered naval architects, Robert Allan.
With about 70 tonnes bollard pull, a top speed of 12 knots, and 6,000 kWh of battery capacity, it will perform all ship-berthing and unberthing missions on battery power alone, Sanmar said.
Taking advantage of the hydroelectric power available in Kitimat, it will be able to recharge from dedicated shore charging facilities at its berth between jobs, the shipbuilder said.
LNG Canada
Construction of the tug berth facility started in early 2023 and is scheduled to be fully completed in early 2024, LNG Canada previously said.
LNG Canada says the new tug berth is essential to operation of the escort tugs and harbor tugs that will provide ship-assist and escort towing services to LNG carriers calling at LNG Canada’s export facility.
The first phase of the giant LNG Canada project includes building two liquefaction trains with a capacity of 14 mtpa in Kitimat.
The construction of the plant is about 85 percent complete and LNG Canada recently completed LNG tank hydro testing at the project site in Kitimat, British Columbia.
Shell and its partners in the project expect to deliver the first cargo by the middle of this decade, and they are also evaluating the second phase of the project.
Other partners include Malaysia’s Petronas, PetroChina, Japan’s Mitsubishi Corporation, and South Korea’s Kogas.