Canadian passenger barge delivered

A tug and passenger ferry barge has started operations on the Mackenzie River in northern Canada. Aurora Yukon is a 30 m barge that carries vehicles and passengers across the river at Norman Wells in Northwest Territories. It is manoeuvred by an existing tug and has a maximum load of 115 tonnes and a maximum single vehicle load of 50 tonnes.

Aurora Yukon was designed by Vancouver-headquartered Robert Allan and built by Waiward Steel in Edmonton. It was designed and built to Transport Canada regulations and Lloyd’s Register inland waterways ships rules.

It is outfitted with the required regulatory safety equipment and a hydraulically operated loading ramp at one end. Mooring equipment is fitted on the main deck and heavy-duty haul-out bitts are on the barge sides to facilitate launch and retrieval from the river as it will be stored over winter on dry land.

Aurora Yukon replaces an existing 1968-built barge and has a maximum operating draught of 0.8 m and beam of almost 10 m.