A quick one tonight. The Canadian Coast Guard has a new RFI out today for exactly TWO (no more) Landing Craft Motorized to eventually be deployed from the future Polar Icebreakers Arpatuuq and Imnaryuaq, with both to be delivered to the Vancouver and Quebec City areas more specifically. This has been a long time coming, and checks off one of the followups I have been waiting for.
Landing craft for the Polars were expected to get an RFI this year, so this isn't a surprise. The future Polars are expected to get several dedicated platforms between them, including the landing craft, new helicopters, and eventually their own autonomous systems not too dissimilar to the navy's plan, though how that might fall under the current regime in place I don't know.
The Landing Craft will support the Polars ability to provide ship-to-shore connections, moving cargo and supplies where water is too shallow for them to enter and where physical port infrastructure is limited or non-existent.
The RFI itself isn't terribly demanding, even for an RFI, allowing suppliers some leeway and freedom to propose solutions. The RFI asks for a vessel whose overall dimensions should not exceed 14.7 metres in length, 4.3 metres in beam, and 5.5 metres in height, with the height applying as stowed, allowing for some wiggle room with the wheelhouse and mast collapsed, although I have high doubts we will see that.
Overall weight should not exceed 22 tonnes at maximum fuel capacity, with all deck equipment installed and no deck cargo. The craft must include lifting points allowing for launch and recovery by a shipboard deck crane or davit. The Landing Craft must operate in the Arctic, including in ice-infested waters up to and including first-year brash ice, down to an air temperature of -40 degrees Celsius, and storage down to -50.
It must carry and secure one twenty-foot TEU on its cargo deck, be fitted with a bow ramp capable of accommodating the transfer of that container, and have an enclosed, temperature-controlled wheelhouse with seating for up to four individuals.
The RFI provided four potential avenues for suppliers to fulfill these requirements:
Supply an existing craft that meets the requirements.
Modification or conversion of an existing craft to fit the requirements.
Adaptation of an existing commercial or proven design.
A new design and construction where nothing else is available.
A common design for both craft is preferred, but suppliers can choose to offer one craft if they like, and the RFI carries separate boxes for a Vancouver delivery, a Quebec City delivery, or both. The RFI doesn't share any set requirements on Canadian content, but it does list the usual stuff like Buy Canadian among the many policies that could apply to a follow-on solicitation. On a shipbuilding contract this small, there was never much question either way, like, come on, but I will make a note because there is always someone who asks what these say on Canadian content.
That is about as far as the hard requirements go here. As it is an RFI for a fairly unique craft, I wouldn't expect to see much here on range, availability, operating window, etc.
The questions remain fairly open-ended, asking what the proposed craft can do, including dimensions and weight, launch and recovery constraints, regulatory compliance, ice and temperature limits, container payload, ramp actuation, propulsion, endurance, speed, and deck equipment. Almost none of them set a firm metric of importance for us here.
Given that the requirements for the craft are fairly tight on the size of the vessel and its Arctic operating capacity, I imagine there is a desire to keep the general field open to potential solutions, which I would say this does fine.
The ice requirement, admittedly, isn't terribly restraining. First-year brash isn't terribly constraining to a vessel like this once you get past off-the-shelf options, which is why the modification of an existing craft remains a genuine option if they can find something. Whether it can maintain the regulatory basis it was certified under is the primary concern.
I do have doubts there is an off-the-shelf solution that quite fits, though. I have not seen it, but craft like these are not hard to find, and the capacity to modify such an existing design isn't out of the wheelhouse for most Canadian designers and small suppliers.
It is, admittedly, a really tight fit for a TEU on the given dimensions. The RRS Sir David Attenborough does have a very similarly sized landing craft of its own from Incat Crowther, but even that is not an exact fit; it is extremely close, however, and has a similar operational profile to give you some visual example of what we're looking for. To wide at the beam though.
I find these smaller procurements a bit more exciting than most. They invite a lot of smaller, less discussed players, such as the Hike, Kanter, and CMEs of the world, to participate and oftentimes provide some of the more fun concepts to discuss.
Hopefully, we get to see some of them. I would certainly love to get a glimpse of some concepts!