December 10 - The PacifiCat Explorer, the last of three British Columbia fast ferries to be exported to Abu Dhabi is on route from Vancouver to Abu Dhabi onboard Dockwise Shipping MV Swift.
Vancouver-based CTL Westrans Shipbrokers (CTL), which brokered both the sale and transport contracts for the three Pacificat ferries, had been working on sourcing the best suitable vessel candidates for several months before the "Fast Cats" were sold by the Washington Marine Group to Abu Dhabi Mar, a yacht building group based in the United Arab Emirates.
"This marks the end of long project for CTL and we are very pleased with how smoothly all operations went on all three shipments, " said CTL Westrans shipbroker Richard Peters who was responsible for arranging the transportation of the vessels to their new home in the Middle East.
The sheer size of the Pacificats required the specialized capabilities of a semi-submersible vessel with "float on/float off" capabilities. The Dockwise vessel chosen has a deck length of 127 m which matches perfectly to accommodate the Pacificats overall 122 m length. Some special logistical issues had to be addressed, such as the construction of customised steel support structures at Vancouver Shipyards.
The loading operation required the assistance of three tugs and Swift's lines, boats and winches and the complete operation took one week, with three days for deck preparation, one day for loading and three days for final securing for sea.
In November 2008, CTL was also responsible for arranging the transportation of 80 of Vancouver's de-commissioned electric trolley buses to the port of San Antonio, Chile for land transfer to Mendoza, Argentina.
CTL Westrans Shipbrokers has been serving the international ship-owning and chartering community for more than 40 years. As a respected and well-established shipbroker on the Pacific West Coast, CTL's primary focus is dry cargo, parcel chartering and time chartering. (www.ctlwestrans.com)
