Damen Shipyards reported the Government of Ontario had accepted its proposal to build 2 ferries featuring full electric propulsion.
Damen is constructing Road Ferry 6819 and Road Ferry 9819 (68-meter and 98-meter, respectively) under design-build contract awarded last year. At the time of award it was announced the ferries would be hybrid-ready, enabling the fitting with batteries when required.
However, now they will be fully electric, this way reducing greenhouse gas emissions by estimated 7.4 M kilograms of carbon dioxide annually, equivalent to taking a total of 1,357 cars off the road, in comparison with conventional diesel ferries.
The ships will be Canada's first non-cable, fully electric vessels. The one will service Millhaven and Amherst Island, and the other Kingston and Wolfe Island.
Damen Shipyards tailored the design to ensure the performance profile of the vessels is not affected by electrification. The capacity of the ferries to transport 300 travelers and 42 cars (Amherst Island Ferry, 6819) and 399 travelers and 75 cars (Wolfe Island Ferry, 9819) at speeds up to 12 knots is the same as via conventional propulsion.
The scope of work of Damen in the project includes installation of automated mooring system and charging system through which the ferries will be automatically linked with the shore power system for recharging their batteries.
Ontario is investing approx US$94 million and the Canadian Government is contributing up to a maximum of US$31,271,905 towards constructing the new vessels. They will be added to the fleet of BC Ferries.