One year later: HaiSea celebrates 100 successful LNG carrier escorts into Kitimat

HaiSea Marine’s (HaiSea) fleet of electric and dual-fuel tugboats has successfully guided 100 LNG carriers through the Douglas Channel to Kitimat.

This marks a significant step for the HaiSea crew, who celebrated the first successful escort operation in April 2025, representing months of training and planning. The powerful, dual-fuel HaiSea Kermode was joined by the fully electric HaiSea Wamis, Wee’git and Brave tugboats to safely guide Valencia Knutsen more than 130 nautical miles to LNG Canada’s marine terminal jetty in Kitimat, located in the traditional territory of the Haisla Nation.

“This represents a pivotal moment in HaiSea’s history,” Jordan Pechie, President, Seaspan Marine Transportation, said. “With every vessel movement, HaiSea is establishing itself as a recognized part of the community and local economy, and we are continuing to work closely with LNG Canada, the Haisla Nation and other local First Nations to keep operations moving forward safely, together.”

The operation earlier this week went smoothly, thanks to the experienced HaiSea crews manning the fleet, as well as the continued planning and expertise of Master Mariner Shawn Jones, Senior Operations Manager at HaiSea Marine.

“I’m really proud of the work that the HaiSea team has put in over the past year. We are all working towards one goal — safely escorting vessels in and out of the Douglas Channel, and we’ve been doing that efficiently and with no service interruptions,” Jones said.

HaiSea started as a conversation between Seaspan and the Haisla Nation, and more than a year after the first escort operation, HaiSea continues to hire mariners from local First Nations, creating opportunities for Haisla, Gitga'at and Gitxaala mariners to live and work on their home waters.

With 100 ship escort operations successfully completed, and operations to LNG Canada’s terminal in Kitimat scheduled every other day, this is only the beginning of the journey.