City of Prince Rupert seeking proposals for annual refit of Digby Island Ferry

The City of Prince Rupert is looking towards an April 2019 target for some
required refit work for the Digby Island Ferry, a project that will take the
ferry out of service for a month

April 2019 has been pencilled in by the City of Prince Rupert as the month for the annual maintenance refit for the city's daily transportation link to the Prince Rupert Airport.

The City has put forward their Request for Proposals to the BC Bid site, seeking the response of qualified proponents towards work required for the Digby Island ferry which makes multiple sailings each day between the Fairview Dock and the dock at Digby Island.

The work to take place on the  forty eight year old Ferry, which was commissioned for service in 1970 will require dry docking of the vessel, following which the removal, inspection and replacement or reinstallation of major bearings, shafts, and valves.

The maintenance work will also require an ultrasound inspection of vessel hull and deck and any associated and necessary repairs.

Preparation and painting of the hull and deck services and removal of replacement of zincs is also part of the refit program for next year.

There are also a number of additional services that could take place as part of the maintenance program, though they are not a required work item and could be added to the work list by the City at their discretion.

The Timeline of the work will see the ferry arrive at the successful shipyard on April 1st, with a return to service anticipated for the end of April.

In addition to the work that is part of the Digby Island Ferry maintenance project, the city will also have to consider the cost of alternate transportation that will be required during the refit period, which could have an impact on how the city determines the project award.

Hans Seidemann, the City of Prince Rupert's Manager of Community Development is overseeing the Request for Proposal process, which has a deadline for submissions of August 17th.

You can review the Request package from the BC Bid website.

The approach to the required work on the Prince Rupert ferry is in contrast to how our neighbours to the North take care of their airport ferry requirements, as we noted last week, the State of Alaska has embarked on a major statewide infrastructure program, which includes a number of projects related to the Ketchikan Airport Ferry and other assorted roadways, docks and terminal buildings in that community.

The result of that state involvement in transportation issues removes a good portion of the burden from Ketchikan residents and that city's borough government, an approach that the city may wish to take to MLA Rice to seek some form of similar financing arrangement with province of British Columbia.

For more items of note related to the City's Bids and Tenders process see our archive page here.

Further items of interest from City Council can be found on our Council Discussion archive.

For those looking to keep up on events with air transportation in the Northwest, we track the developments on our archive here.

Cross posted from the North Coast Review.