Spirit of Vancouver Island off for upgrade
The Spirit of Vancouver Island ferry is on its way to Poland for a major mid-life upgrade and fuel conversion, the same as the one completed on its sister ship, the Spirit of British Columbia.
Last month, the Spirit of Vancouver Island left B.C., passing through the Panama Canal. It left the Canary Islands on Monday.
The 548-foot-long ferry is destined for Remontowa Ship Repair Yard S.A., in Gdansk, Poland.
Anyone wanting to follow the voyage can look on the internet for ship tracking websites and typing in the name of the ferry. A frequently used tracking website is marinetraffic.com.
Refit work is expected to be complete in spring and the ship will likely be home in May.
The project for the two B.C.built ferries is expected to come in at $140 million. They run on the Swartz Bay-Tsawwassen route.
The Spirit of British Columbia was built in 1993 and the Spirit of Vancouver Island was launched the following year.
Improvements include converting the vessel's propulsion plant to run on liquefied natural gas and marine diesel oil, which will be used as a backup. The ship is getting new engines.
The refit is predicted to give the Spirit vessels at least another 25 years of service.
B.C. Ferries anticipates that turning to LNG for the two Spirit vessels will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 12,000 tonnes per year, which is similar to taking 2,500 vehicles off the road annually.
It also continues the path the ferry fleet is taking toward more use of LNG on its vessels.
The new Salish-class vessels run on LNG as well.
Last week, B.C. Ferries announced it aims to build five major ships, comparable to the Spirit and Coastal class vessels. It issued a request for expressions of interest.
Mark Wilson, vice-president of strategy and community engagement for B.C. Ferries, said he expects the five will likely be hybrid ferries using liquefied natural gas as the primary fuel with batteries on board.
Plans for the new ferries, which could cost a total of $700 million to $1 billion, must still be approved by the B.C. Ferry Commissioner.