Canada’s Seaspan Ferries upgrades two freight RoRos to reduce its carbon footprint

West Coast Canadian ferry operator Seaspan Ferries Corp (SFC) has recently upgraded two of its four double-ender RoRo gas/electric ferries, together with partners which include Wärtsilä, to significantly reduce its carbon footprint.

The vessels in question are the 4,810gt 2016-built sister ships Seaspan Reliant and Seaspan Swift, both of which can carry 59 trailers (1,034 lanemetres) and 12 passengers. Both ferries were designed by Vard Marine and built by Turkey’s Sedef Shipyard, and have had their engine control systems and operational profile upgraded, reducing their carbon intensity by an impressive 90%.

Each RoRo is powered by two Wärtsilä 9L34DF diesel gensets, which can operate on LNG or MDO, with a combined maximum output of 8,640kW, as well as a Corvus ESS battery pack, with a capacity of 545kWh.

To achieve the 90% reduction, SFC made three significant changes to each RoRo:

• The two diesel gensets were upgraded with a GHG reduction package, which reduces methane slip. In addition, the gensets have been optimised for low load operations, which disables some cylinders at low loads.
• The Wärtsilä 34DF gensets are able to operate on LNG, MDO or biofuels, so SFC chose to bunker 100% biofuel for the pilot fuel and renewable LNG as the main fuel, when it is available, dramatically reducing both vessels’ carbon footprint.
• The Corvus ESS was increased in size to 2MWh in order to reduce the gensets operating hours. Rather than operating two gensets at low loads, which increases methane slip, one genset can be operated at optimum load, combined with use of the batteries.

SCF operates freight ferry routes in British Columbia, between two terminals in the lower mainland – Tilbury and Surrey, and two on Vancouver Island – Duke Point and Swartz Bay. The company also operates a dedicated logistics and barge terminal at Tilbury.