Seaspan: fracking the past, ignoring avoiding the future

You’ve probably heard of C-SPAN, a public access broadcaster of all things parliamentary to keep the public informed about what’s going on in the Government. Now, have you heard of Seaspan? The boat-building operation on Canada’s West coast which is doing a less than adequate job of keeping the public informed about its very weird choices.

You’d be excused for not knowing who they are, because they keep a low profile and are currently low-key marketing themselves as a ship-building and repair yard. However when B.C. Ferries opened up bidding to see who was going to build the next generation of electric-ready ferries traversing the Strait of Georgia, Seaspan didn’t bid. So, not only would you be excused from knowing who they are, but what they actually do.

Recently they got into LNG ship bunkering (nautical-speak for fueling ships). In fact, they’re responsible for three brand new specialized bunkering ships that are functionally floating gas stations. Seaspan sails the special gas stations up to ships and transfers LNG from their tanks into the ships needing a re-fuel. None of the three bunkering ships were built in Canada.

You see, while Seaspan is marketing itself as a ship-building and repairing yard, they are getting into the business of liquified “natural” gas, the product of fracking. For an institution that claims to be ship-building, choosing this course is a weird decision.

Here’s why: If you’re in the business of LNG it’s probably good to check what the general market conditions are for the product. Right now, there are 60 LNG tankers floating aimlesslessly around unused, without cargo or direction. On top of this, there are problems with LNG Canada’s early operations, and there is compounding evidence that LNG does not reduce pollution as much as they initially hoped for powering ships or as an export from Canada. 

In fact, forthcoming IMO regulations will put pressure on the shipping industry to phase out fossil fuel bunkering altogether. This will put Seaspan, its shareholders, and the taxpayer in a pretty awkward position when the penalties for using fossil fuels kick in. In short, Seaspan’s business model will be as short-lived as a fruit fly. All this adds up to a pretty clear indication that the market for LNG is souring as more and more countries seek out cleaner and greener ways to power vessels.

The bottom line is that the global LNG market is set to plateau and decline. Canada’s key hoped-for markets in the Asia Pacific region are right now experiencing a significant uptake in renewable energy, and there’s no turning that around. In fact, the region now accounts for nearly half of the world’s renewable energy production capacity.

The irony here is that the very people we’re trying to sell our LNG to are doing exactly what we should be doing: backing away from the fossil fuel industry and shifting our resources and investments towards renewable energy. This includes the electrification of our boats and ferries. Instead, Fortis (the LNG supplier to BCFerries) literally had to pay BC Ferries $6 million to build LNG powered ferries a decade ago to keep BCFerries from going electric. Meanwhile, other countries are leading in electrified ferries including New Zealand, Sweden, and China.

Electric-driven vessels are literally arriving at our ports, and Canada risks missing the boat in building them. While nations around the world are making real investments in electrified marine transportation – cleaner, quieter, and more cost-effective over time – our domestic players are clinging to a fossil-fueled past propped up by public subsidies. Seaspan’s LNG bunkering misadventure is not just a bad business decision; it’s a case study in backward thinking at a moment when forward momentum is everything. Electrified ferries aren’t a pipe dream—they’re already in the water in Norway, South Korea, and beyond. Canada has the talent, the shipyards, and the renewable electricity to lead in this sector. But to do that, we need to invest in innovation, not obsolescence. The question now is whether we want to keep dragging the anchor, or set sail into a cleaner future.