About WaterBridge Fabricating Inc
WaterBridge Fabricating Inc. (formerly known as WaterBridge Steel Inc.) is owned and operated by John Harding. Since 1976, John has been in the business of designing, building, and operating car, truck, and passenger ferries that serve British Columbia's interior lakes. The WaterBridge Fabricating team specializes in building vessels in remote sites, under difficult environmental conditions, and with limited access to industrial infrastructure. John has over 25 years of ship building experience building numerous vessels for industry and government with his current company, WaterBridge Fabricating Inc, and his previous company, Finlay Navigation.
The WaterBridge Fabricating construction team had some of the most talented steel fabricators and marine building experts in the province. Led by John Harding personally, each project met or exceeded its customer's expectations in all aspects. No project was too big or too small for this team of professionals
Under his leadership, the company also constructed the MV Francois Forester in 2004 under contract for the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure. The MV Francois Forester links the communities of Burns Lake and the South side of Francois Lake in Northern BC.
John and the WaterBridge Steel team also built the MV Columbia passenger ferry that connects the communities of the Upper Arrow Lake in Nakusp, BC.
In 2016, WaterBridge Steel was awarded the contract to build four new cable ferries for the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure in BC.
In June of 2012, WaterBridge Fabricating Inc. (then WaterBridge Steel Inc.) was awarded a contract by the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure to design and build an 80-car commercial ferry to run on the Shelter Bay to Galena Bay route on Arrow Lake in the Central Kootenays. The ferry replaced two existing smaller vessels that reached the end of their life-cycles.
The new vessel, the MV Columbia, is 320 feet long, 64 feet wide, and weighs approximately 2.5 million pounds (1100 Metric Tons).
The MV Columbia was designed and built over a period of approximately 24 months on the shores of Upper Arrow Lake in the picturesque village of Nakusp, BC. It was formally delivered to the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure and went into service on June 26, 2014.
WaterBridge Fabricating Inc has one sister company, WaterBridge Equipment Inc, that operates the MV Francois Forester on Francois Lake, BC, on behalf of the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure.
In November of 2023, John Harding sold WaterBridge Ferries Inc, which operates the MV Columbia and three cable ferries in the Central Kootenays, to Marinus Goossen. Click here to learn more about WaterBridge Ferries Inc and the vessels it operates on the Arrow Lakes.
Finlay Navigation commenced operations in 1968 as a marine towing business operating tugs and barges on the man-made Williston Lake in north central British Columbia. It was a progressive, well-equipped, and profitable marine company. Following the purchase of the company by John Harding in 1976, the business grew steadily to include the design, construction, and operation of car and truck ferries serving customers on several interior lakes. John owned and operated Finlay Navigation from 1976 to 2000.
With the sale of Finlay Navigation Ltd in 2000, John Harding directed his talents toward solving the transportation problems identified by the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure at Francois Lake. The increasing logging volumes resulting from the mountain pine beetle infestation in the area were leading to delays and congestion on the government's existing ferry, the "Omineca Princess". John's solution was to build a larger ferry which would be designed, built, and operated by WaterBridge Equipment Inc. This suggestion led to the privatized service, and the construction of a new ferry, the "MV Francois Forester". WaterBridge Equipment Inc operated the Omineca Princess while the MV Francois Forester was being constructed.