Western Canada Marine Response (WCMRC) is building 22 new custom-designed oil response vessels at local shipyards to ensure the protection of wildlife, economic and environmental sensitivities along British Columbia’s coastline.
Quick deployment is essential to spill responders and mini barges are an important addition to our equipment list. WCMRC has awarded construction contracts to Adrenalin Marine, based in Delta, B.C., and Allied Shipbuilders, based in North Vancouver, B.C. The new vessels are part of the $150 million spill response enhancements that are required for the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion.
Adrenalin Marine recently received a contract valued at approximately $2.9 million for the construction of 12 mini-barges. The custom-built aluminum mini-barges are 12 metres long x 4.4 metres wide and will hold forty tonnes (285 bbls) of recovered oil. Mini-barges are used to shuttle recovered oil from skimming operations to storage barges or shore-based storage. The first mini-barge will be delivered by August 2020 and the entire fleet will be delivered by November 2021.
Allied Shipbuilders has also received a contract valued at approximately $1.25 million to build 10 custom-designed aluminum boom-skiffs with a 6 metre long × 2.7 metre wide cargo area to accommodate 1,500 feet of spill response boom. Boom-skiffs function as water trailers and can transport boom and other gear. The vessels will be capable of being towed at 20 knots and will be delivered by March 2021.
“In addition to the 12 mini-barges being built in Delta and the 10 boom-skiffs built in North Vancouver, we have already received four workboats built at Broadwater Industries in Prince Rupert,” said Michael Lowry, Communications Manager at WCMRC.
As part of the Trans Mountain spill response enhancements, WCMRC will be adding a total of 44 new vessels, 120 personnel and 6 new response bases. This represents a response capacity that is double and a delivery time that is more than half of the current Transport Canada planning standards.