• 21 Jul 2018

Davie Shipbuilding, Canada’s largest shipyard, said it has recently delivered what it claims to be the first liquefied natural gas (LNG)-powered ferry to be built in North America.

The LNG-powered ferry Armand Imbeau II equipped with icebreaking capability will be able to operate year round on the St. Lawrence River on the Tadoussac-Baie-Sainte-Catherine route.

The vessel is the first in a series of two dual-fuel LNG Ro-Pax ferries being built for Société des traversiers du Québec. Measuring 92 metres long, each ship includes eight rows on two decks, enabling the transport of up to 110 vehicles, including tractor-trailers, according to Davie Shipbuilding.

The vessel has been in the development for more than six years.

“Delivering this prototype has taken years of work by Davie, the designers and the classification society, who have had to develop construction and operations rules and regulations during the construction in order to cater for this new type of propulsion system,” the shipbuilder said in a statement.

James Davies, President of Davie commented: “It would have been easy to build a normal, diesel-powered ferry but instead Québec decided to pave the way in setting a new environmental standard for the entire continent. We inherited this project when we acquired the shipyard in 2012. With the project already at a mature concept stage when we arrived, we received a specification from the client of more than four hundred pages long and we immediately set to work on solving the puzzle that had been created. One thing is for sure – we couldn’t have done this without Premier Couillard and his government for their cooperation and sheer determination to make Québec a shipbuilding industry leader and a province at the forefront of green marine technologies. 

Ron Pearson, Davie’s VP of engineering added, “From the outside, this ship looks like any other ferry but from the inside, it is of a similar level of complexity to a space shuttle. It is a densely packed, highly integrated and complex product. This ferry has more systems and automation onboard than an offshore drilling platform or a modern warship. It is truly a technological marvel – the cryogenic processes involved in managing this highly volatile fuel, while also creating a vessel which is safe to carry passengers, has been a huge challenge. Integrating all of these systems into such a confined space was even more challenging and one we are very proud to have overcome.”

The M/V Armand Imbeau II facts:

• Able to operate entirely using Liquefied Natural Gas • Icebreaking capability, able to operate year round on the St. Lawrence river • Over 150,000 meters of cable installed onboard • A key indicator of complexity: Over 6,800 inputs/outputs into the main automation system (versus 3,500 for a naval and roughly 6,000 for a semi-submersible offshore drilling rig) • Highly automated for use by a smaller crew • Fully automated safety shutdown systems for gas safety, more comprehensive than an offshore drilling platform.

Source:  Davie Shipbuilding