COASTAL INSPIRATION

Today's SotD is the Coastal Inspiration (IMO: 9332767, Port of Registry: Kingstown, St. Vincent & The Grenadines). The Coastal Inspiration is the second of three Coastal Class ships to be delivered to her owner BC Ferries, Canada. She was delivered this year from Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft, Flensburg, Germany. The first delivery was the Coastal Renaissance, which departed for British Columbia on October 27, 2007, and arrived in British Columbia on December 13, 2007. She will be followed by the Coastal Celebration in June 2008.

The Coastal Inspiration is 160 metres long, 28.2 metres wide, has a maximum speed of 21 knots, a gross tonnage of 21,980 and a capacity of 1,650 passengers and 370 vehicles. She is propelled by four 4,000 kW medium speed MaK diesel engines. The ship’s gigantic promotional images feature women’s snowboarding and men’s curling from the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics, as well as tourism photos of Brooks Peninsula
Provincial Park on Vancouver Island and Kootenay National Park in south-western British Columbia.

The Coastal Inspiration arrived this morning at the EBS Terminal, Europoort for bunkering. When finished she will depart for Victoria, Canada where she will arrive in about 5 weeks. She will stop for refuelling and supplies in Las Palmas (Canary Islands) Cristobal (Panama) and either Ensenada (Mexico) or Los Angeles (California), before sailing up the west coast of North America to B.C.