Three generations of Haisla Mariners sail fully electric tugboat home to Kitimat

The HaiSea Wamis, a fully electric tugboat in one of the world’s greenest fleets, is the first of five HaiSea vessels to make the journey from North Vancouver to Kitimat, where HaiSea Marine’s operations will be based.

A crew of eight Haisla members sailed the HaiSea Wamis home, marking an important milestone for HaiSea Marine, a majority owned partnership between the Haisla Nation and Seaspan ULC. This historic moment was shared across three generations of the Ross family as they crewed the Wamis on its voyage home; Ed Ross is a deckhand with HaiSea Marine, his stepson, Craig Windsor, and two grandsons, Bradley Windsor, and Christian Cross, are all HaiSea deckhands.

“To bring the HaiSea Wamis up the Douglas Channel and into Kitamaat Village with my family and several other Haisla members was incredibly powerful. Up until now, careers with HaiSea felt like a distant opportunity but now the future is here and there are real careers for the next generation of Haisla mariners,” said Ed Ross, deckhand with HaiSea Marine and Haisla Nation member.

HaiSea will be fully operational in Kitimat by mid-August to support escort towing services to LNG carriers calling at LNG Canada’s new export facility in the traditional territory of the Haisla Nation.  

Jordan Pechie, Senior Vice President, Seaspan Marine Transportation, said:

 “When we were building HaiSea with the Haisla Nation, we had a major milestone for the project in mind: when the HaiSea Wamis set sail for Kitimat, crewed by Haisla members, coming back to work on their home waters just as their ancestors did for thousands of years. It was an honour to bring that milestone to life and celebrate with the community, and our partners. Together, we celebrated the homecoming and reaffirmed our commitment to HaiSea’s goals of Indigenous partnership, environmental stewardship, and fostering employment and training opportunities for Haisla members.”