BC Ferries

The 8117 E3 Road Ferry is a workhorse class designed by Damen Shipyards for British Columbia Ferry Services Inc. (BC Ferries) — a fleet operator running one of the largest passenger ferry networks in North America. Six identical vessels were ordered to renew the BC Ferries inter-island service across Vancouver Island.

The build was executed at Damen Shipyards Galați, with Royal Van der Leun acting as the primary marine electrical integrator. Black Frog Elektro was deployed as the specialist marine electrical execution partner.

Marine electrical scope delivered

We mobilized a team of 32 specialists to run the full electrical execution scope in parallel across the six hulls. Work included primary and secondary cable tray routing, cable pulling, equipment mounting, equipment connection across all electrical subsystems (propulsion, navigation, lighting, ventilation, deck machinery), and the complete commissioning chain including cold wire testing and powered system commissioning.

Each vessel was sea-trial ready on schedule. The six-ferry program represented one of the largest single road ferry deliveries for the Galați yard in 2021 and established a multi-year partnership for the follow-up BC Ferries series currently in build.

Engineering coordination

A program of this scale demands tight integration with the shipyard's hull build schedule, the propulsion package delivery from Damen Marine Components, and the navigation / automation supplier handovers. Our project lead worked daily with the Royal Van der Leun engineering office and the Damen Galați site manager to align cable routes, switchboard delivery dates, and commissioning windows.

Why this matters for similar projects

For shipyards and integrators evaluating us for multi-vessel ferry programs: this delivery demonstrates our ability to execute six builds in parallel without compromising commissioning quality — a capability that scales to cruise, naval, and offshore programs.