A new outfitting pier has been completed at the Vancouver facilities of Canadian shipbuilder Seaspan.
Seaspan Vancouver Shipyards' new outfitting pier measures 272 metres by 19 metres and is designed for large navy and coast guard vessels. The pier is currently facilitating outfitting of the Royal Canadian Navy support ship HMCS Protecteur.
Engineering company Stantec provided planning, preliminary engineering, detailed design and construction services on the Seaspan facility, which will support the Canadian Government's national shipbuilding strategy.
Seaspan said the steel and concrete pier is designed with modern utilities, heavy load capacity, and environmental safeguards and replaces a timber pier from 1966.
The new pier is engineered to support the demands of heavy outfitting operations and is resilient to future sea level rise considerations, extreme storm surge events, and seismic hazards in one of Canada’s highest seismic zones.
To support key ship outfitting and maintenance operations, the pier is designed to accommodate integrated tower cranes, civil utilities/drainage, vehicle traffic, service towers, and specialised shipyard equipment with high live and dynamic loads.
To address potential future needs, the pier also includes crane pockets that can be configured in different ways to support outfitting and production, as well as different shore power capabilities, to support different ship requirements.