The Government of Ontario and Damen Shipyards Group have signed a contract for the two ferries to operate in the Canadian waters of the Great Lakes.
The ferries will be a 68-metre Damen Road Ferry 6819 and a 98-metre Damen Road Ferry 9819.
The ferries will be based in Kingston and Loyalist Township, at the northeastern end of Lake Ontario. The larger of the two new ferries will serve the nearby Wolfe Island while the smaller will serve Amherst Island, just a few kilometres to the west.
Ferries transport approximately 850,000 passengers and 420,000 vehicles between Wolfe Island and Kingston each year, and approximately 290,000 passengers and 136,000 vehicles to and from Amherst Island annually.
The ferries are scheduled for delivery at the end of 2019 (Amherst) and at the end of 2020 (Wolfe).
Both will be hybrid-ready, enabling them to be fitted with batteries when required.
On the photo © Damen, from left to right: Mark Gerretsen (MP for Kingston and the Islands), Leo Postma, (Sales Manager, Damen Shipyards Gorinchem), Sophie Kiwala (Member of Provincial Parliament), Mike Bossio (MP of Hastings-Lennox and Addington).