Haisla Nation and Seaspan to join forces for harbour tug services

More LNG related jobs were announced in Kitimat today
as HaiSea Marine a joint venture of the Haisla Nation and Seaspan ULC
announced a contract award for tug services for LNG Canada

Another LNG related spin off benefit for the Kitimat area was announced today. With the Haisla Nation and Seaspan ULC announcing  that their joint partnership has been awarded a contract to provide for escort tub operations under a recently formed venture called HaiSea Marine.

The announcement comes with the signing of a contract award today with LNG Canada to design, build and operate a number of escort tubs and harbour tugs that will be required for LNG Canada's export facility in Kitimat.

The value of the contract award over its twelve year term is estimated at 500 million dollars and the joint venture will provide employment for approximately 70 mariners and six onshore staff, as well as to create other roles for employees of partner organizations.

Benefits will also be made available to both the Gitxaala Nation and the Gitga'at Nation through a transit agreement with the Haisla.

In an information release to go with today's announcement, Crystal Smith, the Chief Councillor of the Haisla Nation outlined the impact that the agreement will have for the Haisla people.

“HaiSea Marine is majority-owned by the Haisla. Our agreement with Seaspan ensures our members will have access to employment, training and procurement opportunities on the contract with LNG Canada. The opportunity to work locally in the marine industry is of great significance to the Haisla people.”

During operations, the LNG carriers will require harbour tugs to provide berthing an unberthing assistance in Kitimat. The tugs will also be used to provide transportation of material and personnel, marine emergency response, firefighting and oil pollution response.

The Escort Tugs will be used to escort LNG Carriers on their 159 mile journey from Triple Island to the LNG Canada facility in Kitimat.

The tugs which will be designed by Vancouver based Robert Allan Limited, the timeline has the tugs expected to hit the water prior to the production at LNG Canada getting underway, that is expected to be sometime before 2025.

You can review more background on today's announcement here.

After a number of cancelled LNG projects around the Prince Rupert Area over the course of the last three years or so; the LNG Canada project became the first of the many previously proposed projects to find some forward momentum towards actual construction.

That shifted the focus of the LNG industry in the Northwest towards the Kitimat area, which now has two terminal project in motion.

For a look at some of the history of the LNG proposal for the region see our archive page here.

Cross posted from the North Cost Review.