After a complete renovation lasting four months, the Saga X platform will be finalized in Vancouver for a few days, after which it will move to the Woodfibre LNG terminal north of Vancouver in Squamish at the northern tip of Howe Sound. There, Woodfibre is currently building an LNG facility, which upon its expected completion in 2027, is projected to produce 2.1 million tons of LNG per year.
In Squamish, the “Saga X” will be anchored next to another former Baltic Sea ferry, the “Isabelle X”. Bridgemans brought this vessel, which also operated in the Baltic Sea, for the workforce of the large LNG construction project last year. Luke Schauerte, CEO of Woodfibre LNG, says that these solutions ensure the construction project stays on schedule.
The nearly 40-year career of the “Saga X” as a Scandinavian cruise ferry ended with the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, when Stena Line discontinued its Frederikshavn–Oslo route. After a brief period of service with Adria Ferries between Ancona and Durres, Bridgemans initially chartered the ferry for an 18-month accommodation project in the Philippines, until it purchased the vessel and modified it into an accommodation ship.
The vessel was originally built in 1981 at the Wärtsilä Turku shipyard as a sister ship to the “Finlandia”, named “Silvia Regina”, and it served under the Finnish flag until Johnson Line transferred it to the Swedish flag in 1987. The godmother of the vessel was Queen Silvia of Sweden. The vessel sailed for ten years on Silja Line’s Helsinki-Stockholm route, until the “Silja Symphony” was completed in 1991, when it was sold to Stena Line. Initially, the vessel sailed under the name “Stena Britannica” on the Hoek van Holland-Harwich route, but was soon transferred in the spring of 1994 to the route between Oslo and Fredrikshavn under the name “Stena Saga”.
The Isabella was sold in 2013 to Tallink for Stockholm-Riga traffic. This route also ended due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The vessel lay idle in Tallinn for a long time, until it was converted into an accommodation ship for Ukrainian refugees. In this role, Bridgemans purchased the vessel at the beginning of 2024 for Canada.
Between 2014 and 2015, Bridgemans had already chartered Tallink’s “Silja Europa” and “Silja Festival” ships, and between 2020 and 2021 it operated the “Bluefort” vessel, which had most recently served in its original role as a Tallink ferry named “Meloodia”. The “Meloodia” was originally Viking Line’s “Diana II”. Bridgemans scrapped it in Alang in 2021.
Bridgemans operates between Trinidad and Tobago the “Cabo Star”, a former Finnish ro-pax vessel which was originally built in Gdansk as the “Antares” for Finnlines.
Text Mikko Niini
Images Bridgemans
