Woodfibre LNG receives second floatel to house workers

Woodfibre LNG has welcomed a second floatel to accommodate workers at its site, the Canadian LNG company announced on November 27.

The arrival of the MV Saga X to the project site about 10 km southwest of Squamish, British Columbia, provides accommodation for an additional 900 employees.

The company has been seeking to ramp up the pace of construction for months and will now be able to add more skilled labour to the construction team.

Woodfibre first requested regulatory agencies to add a second floatel for employees back in May. However, the application was met be a legal challenge by activist group Citizens for My Sea to Sky. In June, the case was thrown out by Canada’s Federal Court.

The MV Saga X will join the MV Isabelle X, which is also moored at the project site. The two floatels allow Woodfibre to scale-up its construction of the 2.1mn tonnes per year (tpy) LNG terminal without creating any new pressure on Squamish’s housing market or local essential services, such as medical care. Both vessels were refit by Canadian firm Bridgemans.

“The arrival of the MV Saga X represents another important step in getting more Canadian LNG to global markets,” Luke Schauerte, Woodfibre LNG’s CEO said in a statement.

“This vessel allows us to create up to 900 new jobs for skilled tradespeople who are needed to complete construction as quickly as possible while respecting the capacity of the local community. The success of our first floatel has shown that this approach works, and we’re proud to expand that model,” Schauerte added.

The two floatels will stay on site until construction is completed in 2027. In September, Woodfibre passed the halfway point in construction with the arrival of four new LNG modules, transported overseas by heavy lift vessel. The delivery of the first seven modules to the location site occurred in May.

Additional module deliveries are scheduled for the remainder of 2025 and into 2026 as well as the project seeks to build on momentum in the construction phase.  

Despite the construction progress, Woodfibre LNG has grappled with soaring construction costs due to permit delays, the addition of the second floatel, build code changes, and difficult on-site conditions.

In November, Woodfibre filed a civil claim seeking damages alleging members of the District of Squamish intentionally misused powers to delay or stop the project.

Nevertheless, despite rising construction costs, the project is now fully subscribed with offtake deals in place for its first 15 years of operation.