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Smelter construction workers to be housed on converted ferry

Accommodation plan at Rio Tinto Alcan Kitimat project reaches back into history
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Construction workers at Rio Tinto Alcan's Kitimat smelter project will be living in a converted Baltic ferry. It arrives in Kitimat next month.

RIO Tinto Alcan is going back to the early beginnings of its Kitimat aluminum smelter to find accommodation for workers hired to modernize the facility.

It is leasing a converted ferry from the Baltic area to house hundreds of people as the $3.5 billion modernization project enters its stretch run with nine months until finishing.

The move, announced this morning, is reminiscent of the Delta King, a ship used by Alcan in the early 1950s when it built its original smelter.

In keeping with the historical record, Rio Tinto Alcan has dubbed this new floating accommodation the Delta Spirit Lodge.

The vessel is expected to arrive in Kitimat near the end of February 2014.

It is planned that the “Delta Spirit Lodge” will reside at Terminal B (former Eurocan wharf) for the duration of the contract and will provide accommodation primarily to Kitimat Modernization Project people,” a Rio Tinto Alcan release said this morning.

The vessel is being provided through a company called Bridgemans Haisla LP.

The “Delta Spirit Lodge” will have a service staff of approximately 110 and will offer first rate amenities including 500 bedrooms, kitchen, dining and lounge facilities,” the Rio Tinto Alcan release said.

Rio Tinto Alcan and its Kitimat Modernization Project are exceptionally excited to have found an accommodation solution so unique during the year of the smelter’s 60th anniversary in Kitimat,” the release continued.