Ship & Boat International: eNews July/August 2019
Seaspan Shipyards of Victoria, BC has delivered the brand new offshore fisheries science vessel (OFSV) Sir John Franklin to the Canadian Coast Guard (CCG). Launched in 2017, the 63.4m x 16m OFSV is reportedly the “first large vessel to be built and delivered to the Government of Canada under the National Shipbuilding Strategy”, and “one of the most complex ships of its size and type”, Seaspan claims. The vessel will primarily be used to conduct oceanographic survey missions, with particular focus on the health of fish stocks and the effects of climate change on ocean areas, and will be able to sample at up to 2,500m in depth.
Features include “high-tech fishing trawls, laboratories [including a wet lab, dry lab, ocean lab and control lab] and a deployable drop keel,” Seaspan adds. Sir John Franklin has been designed to displace 3,212tonnes and accommodate up to 36 persons.
The vessel has also been developed with a cruising speed of 8knots (increasing to 12.5knots max) and for a range of 6,400nm. Lloyd’s Register has awarded the boat P7 ice-class notation, in recognition of the hull’s ability to operate in and around waters with thin layers of ice. Sir John Franklin is the first of three OFSVs that Seaspan is building for the CCG; vessel two, Captain Jacques Cartier, was launched in June, while John Cabot is expected to be “structurally complete” by the end of summer 2019, Seaspan says.
