The four new SKEENA 5500 Class bulk/container barges for Seaspan International Ltd. were launched in November of 2007 at Nantong Mingde Heavy Industries Ltd. in Nantong, China. The barges were designed by Capilano Maritime Design Ltd. of North Vancouver, BC for this fast track project which will be less than a year from the design board to delivery. Mr. Mark Mulligan, P.Eng. was the Design Project Manager for Capilano Maritime, working closely with Seaspan’s Manager of Business Development, Wayne Poole and Engineering Manager, John Fowlis. Construction oversight was provided by Greathorse Shipping Limited of Shanghai, China. The barges are being towed back from China by the tug Seaspan Commodore in a tandem tow of double-stacked barges. The attached photo shows the barges departing Honolulu enroute to BC.

These new steel barges are designed to carry either bulk cargo or quadruple stacked containers and have design approval from Lloyds Register as a +100A1 Pontoon. The deck is designed for a uniformly distributed load of 10 tonnes per square metre as well as high point loads for container stacking.
The SKEENA 5500 Class barges have the following principal particulars:
• Length, Overall 79.76 metres (261.7 ft)
• Breadth, Moulded 20.00 metres (65.6 ft)
• Depth, Moulded 5.50 metres (18.0 ft)
• Design Draft 4.60 metres (15.1 ft)
• Deadweight 5,500 tonnes (6,063 s. Tons)
• Container Capacity 336 TEU