Meridian Marine Inc. was founded in 1995 by Tom Ferns and James McFadden. Both experienced tradesmen, the two immigrated to Canada from the United Kingdom a decade earlier. They met while working in the Port of Vancouver, British Columbia. Their training and backgrounds in the British Isles complemented each other and they decided that together they could offer ship owners good value and sound technical knowledge and experience.
Within weeks of making this decision to join forces, BC Ferries gave them their first job. They were contracted to upgrade the Crews Quarters on the MV Queen of Saanich, a 9,000 ton, 130 metre long inter-coastal ferry ship with a capacity of 360 cars, 1,700 passengers and crew. To take on the project, Ferns and McFadden had to incorporate and establish a working agreement with unionized labour. The MV Queen of Saanich was the first of many projects Meridian Marine has undertaken for the BC Ferry Corporation. Meridian Marine negotiated an agreement with the Marine Workers and Boilermakers Industrial Union, who supply the skilled labour that is added to our permanent staff as required.
