BC Ferries files application to convert 2 ferries to diesel and LNG operation
VICTORIA – BC Ferries wants to convert its two largest vessels to dual-fuel capability, allowing the ships to operate on both diesel and liquefied natural gas to save millions of dollars a year.
The agency says it’s also aiming to have the hulls of the Spirit of Vancouver Island and the Spirit of British Columbia modified and has filed an application with the BC Ferries commissioner.
BC Ferries says the modifications would save about $9.2 million annually over the remaining 27-year life cycle of the two vessels.
Ferries president Mike Corrigan says LNG is 50 per cent cheaper than marine diesel and the conversions, planned separately between 2016 and 2018, would also bring environmental benefits.
The former Crown corporation says it spent $126 million on fuel last fiscal year and that the two Spirit-class vessels, the largest diesel consumers in its fleet, guzzled about 15 per cent of the total bill.
The two vessels operate on the Tsawwassen-to-Swartz Bay route, which carried 28 per cent of total passengers in the fiscal 2014 year.
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One response
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If you do a cost-benefit analysis, using a 5% discount rate, the savings are worth $135 mio. That is the present value of a $9.2 mio savings over the life of the project. That is barely above the cost.Moreover; this optimistic forecast does not include the (high) probability of cost overruns. Increases in LNG and diesel costs make the savings even lower. This investment is not worthwhile.
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