High-speed ferry assembly begiris in N. Vancouver By lan Noble News Reporter fan@nsnews.com AT the cavernous new B.C. Ferries ship assembiy facility on North Vancouver’s water- front, what many hope is the future of B.C. shipbuilding is beginning to take shape. Near one end of the 137-metre- long (450-foor) facility sits the first completed module in whai will be the first of three anticipated high-speed ferzies built for the Crown corpora tion’s Horseshoe Bay-to-Nanaimo route. The aluminum module, or “ring unit,” consists of a section of the two bulls joined together by what eventu- ally will be the car deck. The fast ferry is being constructed under the supervision of Catamaran Ferries International Ltd. (CFI), a B.C. Fernes subsidiary which is also in charge of marketing the $70-million ferries worldwide. Andy Hamilton, the vice-president and genera} manager of North Vancouver-bised CFI, said the 85-ton ring unit is thr first of three that will be moved from Vancouver Shipyards at the foot of Pemberton to North Vancouver's Mer 9+ facility. A bow unit and engine room unit will be added to complete the hull structure. While the modules are being com- pleted, the upper accommodation decks and the wheelhouse are being built on Vancouver Island. They will be brought to the $9- million assembly shop and moved through the facility’s blue canvas door, one of the biggest in the world. The modules will then be welded together. Or, as Hamilton says, zipped up. “We're playing at mega Lego,” he added. Four, 10,G00-horsepower engines and jet propulsion units for the 1,000- passenger, 250-car ferries have already been moved to the site at the foot of St. Andrew’s from plants in Germany and Sweden. Hamilton expects the ship to be built by September. After tests and mals, the 30-year ship- builder anticipates the fast ferry will be delivered to B.C. Ferries in December. However, it’s sall surprisingly quiet in the 28- metre (91-foot) high assembly facility. Sounds from scattered drilling, welding and ham- mering can be heard, but the assembly building is not home to the din and dirt expected of a ship- building facility. There are two reasons for that, said Hamilton. The real work at the assembly facility will not begin until the second medule is delivered from Vancouver Shipyards in May. And secondly, the new method of ship construction is cleaner. “Gone are the dark and dusty days of shipbuild- ing,” he said, while admiring the module ia the well- lit assembly shop. Hamilton said the process of building the ship in modules and assembling them in North Vancouver has been pursued to promote efficiency. By “working smarter,” Hamilton said CFJ can produce ferries that are competitive in the world markets. Marine engineers and maritime players have cast doubts on the ability of CFI to export its ships, cit- ing high Canadian labor rates and stiff competition trom abroad. But Hamilton said Monday he’s confident the B.C. effort can be successful. The overseas marketing campaign has vet to result ina sale, but Hamilton said he is still in dis- cussions with offshore eperators. The full fast ferry project will sce three fast ferries built ata cost of $210 million. Victoria has frozen construction of the second and third ferries, but said they will eventually be built. The delay, said Hamilton, is trustrating. NEWS photo Mike Wakefield CATAMARAN Ferries International manager Andy Hamilton oversees efforts to build high-tech fast ferries for B.C. Ferries and export overseas at an assembly facility in North Vancouver. “We'd like to sce the three-ship program be announced as quickly as possible,” he added. “We've invested a lot of moncy and training of the work force and we certainly don’t want to lose them to other projects.” If the ferries are successfully completed and over- seas buyers materialize for CFI's product, the province's beleaguered shipbuilding industry would breathe a sigh of relief. Hamilton started in shipbuilding in 1967 as an apprentice engineer in Glasgow, Scodand. In 1986, he moved to Canada to become direc: tor of construction with the Canadian Frigate Program in Saint John, New Brunswick. Eight vears later, he was running the module construction program for the giant Hibernia oi! pro- ject in Newfoundland. A year ago, Hamilton was approached by corpo- rate head-hunters to set up the fast ferry project. speech From page V funding, Chretien said the Liberals have put forward a $13- millon program to help young people learn the complicated bust- ness of international trade. Earlier in the day, secondary students from Carson Graham in North Vancouver and West Vancouver secondary, wearing buttons bearing the names Kinsella and Peck, poured off buses before the prime minister and most of the cameras arrived. Most students said they looked forward to the “once ina lifedme” opportunity of seeing the pnme minister and had been promised lunch. The thought ef a morning away from school didn’t depress them either. Only a few secondary students saw Chretien leave behind security men who shoved college demon- strators and media out of his way. Five students from Carson were left behind by the bus hired by Liberal organizers. One said he was frightened by the episode of pushing and flying signs during the prime minister's exit. “It’s freaky. It scared the hell out of me,” said 17-year-old Scott Kinniburgh. He and four others said they had to show the Peck and Kinsella support badges to get back on the bus. None of them knew who Kwangyul Peck, Liberal candidate for Port Moody-Coquitlam, was. Others said they were told to wear the candidate stickers for security purposes. Organizers told students to hold Liberal banners aloft, while college protesters told them to lower them, Kinniburgh said. “We're kind of, like, right in the middle of this thing. None of us knows what’s going on,” he added. “We're like puppets,” said Carson’s Dave Johnson. Their principal, Dave Dairon, said the school did not authorize the student trip because event organizers did not give the school cnough time to get parents’ per- mission. “Em very unhappy with the way the whole thing has been handled,” he said. Kinsella said he bused students to the events but only promised the students the opportunity to mect the prime minister. He understood students could be at Chretien’s event only after the teacher had given students approval. “Those people who were there today were certainly not there for anything other than to show their support for the Prime Minister of Canada,” Kinsella said. “Weill, Ted White was there.” NEWS reporter Anna Marie D'Angelo judged second in best news story category. NEWS page designer John Goodman wins third place award for newspaper design. News wins B.C. newspaper awards THE North Shore News picked up two awards on Saturday at the 1996 B.C. Newspaper Foundation Awards ceremonies. News reporter Anna Marie D’Angelo’s two-part edu- cation story about foreign students receiving free public education was judged secoad in the best news story cate- gory for publications with circulations under 70,000. The judges’ comments included “First rate reporting, showing, considerable enterprise ... It must have been too complex, because the provincial media left it alone!” First prize in the category went to the Yirken News tor a story by Richard Mostyn about a lethal toxin, ricin, transported into Canada. Third place went to Victoria’s Monday Magazine tor an arena finances story by Russ Francis. News page designer John Goodman picked up a third- place award for best newspaper design, The judges stated, “A good example of successtilly combining several stories on one page with an inviting lay- out, with some respect for white space.” First place in the category went to Sue Sanderson and Deborah Burns of the Western Jewish Bulletin, The Provinee’s Dan Murphy received second in the category. Fifty-one newspapers throughout the province submit- ted 487 entries for 17 categories in the competition. The judges included former Vancouver Sun staff Harrill Bjornson and Richard Littkemore, Georgia Straight news editor Charlie Smith, former Province editorial staff Brian Pound, Joy Jones and Peter Hulbert, graphic designer Angele Beausoleil and and former community newspaper journalist Sean Magee. « awards were handed out on Saturday at a dinner at the Four Seasons Hotel in Vancouver.