CBC - December 17, 2015
The Newfoundland and Labrador's new ferry for the Fogo Island-Change Islands run arrived at its final destination Wednesday, a few days before it officially launches its new service.
The MV Veteran left St. John's harbour shortly after 6 p.m. Tuesday.
It's expected to enter service on Saturday.
In a news release, the Department of Transportation and Works said a welcoming ceremony will be held Monday on board the vessel as it sets sail.
Derrick Bragg, MHA for Fogo Island - Cape Freels, along with town officials and ferry committee members of Fogo Island and Change Islands will be on hand for the ceremony.
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Times Colonist - Dec 10, 2015
Nanaimo is issuing a formal request for proposals to find a company to run daily foot passenger ferry service to and from Vancouver by late 2016.
It isn’t good news to Island Ferry Service Ltd., which is striving to line up a final $21 million in financing by the end of this month for its $70-million endeavour to run a catamaran service. Island Ferry and Nanaimo officials have been working together for about five years.
“We are certainly not pleased,” said David Marshall, director of operations and one of 23 investors in Island Ferry Service.
Bernie Dumas, president and CEO of the Port Authority, said the port board decided “enough is enough” at its Friday meeting. “We haven’t got anywhere,” he said.
The request for proposals will be published in January or February in a partnership between the City of Nanaimo and the Nanaimo Port Authority. Details will be based on input from other central Island communities, First Nations, and local government agencies.
The aim is to find a “fast, frequent and reliable passenger ferry service between downtown Nanaimo and downtown Vancouver,” port authority statement said. “One of the key evaluation criteria will be the operating dates put forward by the proponents.”
Marshall would not say whether his company will participate in the proposal call. “We are going to do whatever we have to do to deliver this project in Nanaimo.”
Island Ferry approached Nanaimo in the first place to offer the service, Marshall said. There was no formal request.
A memorandum of understanding for the service had earlier been signed between Island Ferry, the Nanaimo Port Authority, the city, the Regional District of Nanaimo and the Nanaimo Economic Development Corp. The port authority decided Friday to withdraw from that agreement and call for proposals.
Nanaimo council met with the port authority board on Monday about “our mutual interests in the development of the waterfront,” said Tracy Samra, city manager. Council later met in-camera and agreed to work in partnership with the port authority to issue a joint request for proposals in an open and transparent process, she said. “We want to do it on an aggressive timeline. There’s no time to be wasted.”
Council has identified waterfront development, which includes a transportation hub and cultural centre, as priorities, she said.
The port authority worked with Island Ferry for more than five years, but the service is still not in place, Dumas said. “Their big challenge is financing.”
A fast-ferry service using catamarans making multiple runs everyday is considered important for economic development for Nanaimo and the region, Dumas said. Other companies have expressed interest in providing the service, he said.
Respondents to the request for proposals will be asked about their preferred Nanaimo location. There are two options. One is city owned and at 1 Port Drive, south of Nanaimo’s downtown core, and the other is the port authority’s cruise ship terminal. Dumas said it would cost $500,000 or less to fit out the terminal to accommodate catamarans.
Marshall said that Island Ferry met with the port authority on Nov. 9 to state it was close to lining up the final financing needed and that its target date was the end of this year.
Island Ferry is meeting today with officials from Damen Shipyards, a global company headquartered in the Netherlands, to discuss using catamarans on a lease-to-purchase basis.
Setting up a new ferry service is “hugely complex,” Marshall said.
The port authority is seeking additional revenue which would add to the cost of passenger tickets in order to raise money for its “underperforming” cruise ship terminal, Marshall said.
A one-way trip would be $30, with commuters paying $24, he said. The port authority would charge another $1.50 on top of that.
Island Ferry is planning to run six round trips daily in the summer and shoulder seasons and at least four in winter months.
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November 27, 2015 - Times Colonist
The new Salish Orca ferry has been officially christened in Gdansk, Poland, where it is under construction.
One of three intermediate-class ferries being built by Remontowa Shipbuilding S.A., the dual-fuel ferry is scheduled to go into service late in 2016 on the Comox-Powell River route.
After a naming contest which attracted 7,000 entries, B.C. Ferries announced that the vessels would be dubbed the Salish class. The Orca will be the first on the job, followed by the Salish Eagle and Salish Raven, which will serve the Southern Gulf Islands after arriving in 2017.
Mary McDonagh, B.C. Ferries’ senior chief steward on the Queen of Burnaby, christened the ship.
The Orca’s life span is 40 years. It is replacing the 50-year-old Queen of Burnaby.
Remontowa Shipbuilding won the $165 million contract to build the 351-foot-long vessels. Each will have room for 145 vehicles and 600 passengers. The next two Salish-class ferries will arrive in 2017, B.C. Ferries said in a statement today.
The Salish ships are being built to operate on either liquefied natural gas or on low-sulphur diesel fuel. LNG is expected to be the main fuel source, resulting in reduced emissions and lower costs for B.C. Ferries.
B.C. Ferries has shortlisted three shipyards, including Seaspan, to carry out a mid-life upgrade and install dual fuel systems on its two Spirit-class ships.
Ferries predicts that using LNG in its fleet will lead to the reduction of the equivalent of about 9,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions every year.
That is similar to taking 1,900 passenger vehicles off the road every year, because natural gas is cleaner than marine diesel fuel.
B.C. Ferries expects to spend more than $3 billion to replace older vessels and other assets in the next 12 years.
The Esquimalt Dry Dock company is starting an $18-million refit on the Queen of Cumberland ferry. That work is expected to be completed in April.
Up-island, the $15-million Baynes Sound Connector, a cable ferry built by Seaspan, was officially turned over to B.C. Ferries this month. It will run between Buckley Bay on Vancouver Island and Denman Island.
Boaters are being warned not to cross in front or behind the cable ferry when it is operating, B.C. Ferries said. The danger comes from submerged cables that rise close to the water’s surface, from the seabed, when the ferry is being pulled across the sound.
Signal lights have been installed at the Buckley Bay and Denman West terminals.
When the cable ferry is travelling, solid red lights will be illuminated. When those lights are green, it is safe for boaters to pass, B.C. Ferries said.
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Times Colonist - November 20, 2015
The $15-million Baynes Sound Connector has officially joined B.C. Ferries’ fleet and is expected to be in service in early February, later than earlier announced.
B.C. Ferries announced Friday that it has taken ownership of the cable ferry, which will run between Buckley Bay on Vancouver Island and Denman Island.
“We are very pleased with the new cable ferry’s performance,” Mike Corrigan, Ferries president and CEO, said in a statement.
Cost savings of $80 million over the ferry’s 40-year life are predicted by Ferries compared with the existing service by the Quinitsa, which will continuing on the route until the Connector comes into service.
The cable ferry arrived off Vancouver Island’s east cost in late August for trials.
Built by Seaspan at its Vancouver Shipyards, the 258-foot-long ferry has room for 150 passengers and 50 vehicles.
It will cross a distance of nearly two kilometres, connected to three underwater cables. The cables operate under 15 to 20 tonnes of tension, Ferries said in a statement.
A cable ferry on the route has prompted concern from area residents. Critics say a cable ferry is unable to tack into the wind and meet waves head-on. They fear that winds speeds have been underestimated.
The Connector’s performance has done well to date, Ferries said.
“During rigorous acceptance trials and testing conducted by Seaspan in conjunction with B.C. Ferries, the new cable ferry met or exceeded all contract specifications, including speed and fuel consumption compared to the Quinitsa, the vessel currently in service on this rout,” Ferries said.
In those trials, the ferry reached a speed of 8.7 knots, which topped the 8.5 speed it was designed for.
“All speeds have been achieved on the designed one-engine operations, and the second engine is there for complete redundancy,” said Mark Wilson, Ferries’ vice-president of engineering.
Horsepower for one of the Connector’s engines is 490. The Quinitsa has four engines with 475 horsepower each, Wilson said.
The cable ferry uses “significantly” less fuel than the Quinitsa., he said.
Last November, Ferries said the cable ferry was expected to be operating in summer 2015.
That date has now been moved to 2016.
Ferries will now spend two months training crew.
Transport Canada must certify the vessel. Emergency procedures will be practiced. Adjustments to floating pontoons will be made at the terminals.
Meanwhile, three new ferries are under construction in Poland, with delivery scheduled to 2016 and 2017. Their total cost is $165 million.
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CHEK News, Oct 27, 2015
The equipment is now in place at the Belleville ferry terminal, marking the beginning of long-awaited improvements to the properties.
The work begins with repairs to the wharves used by the MV Coho ferry.
The cost is being shared between the Province, the Black Ball Ferry Line and Clipper Navigation Limited.
It will involve replacement of the existing timber piles and deck structure with new steel pipe piles with a precast concrete deck.
It will also include a covered passenger walkway, a new vessel loading ramp and upgrades to the terminal parking area.
Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Todd Stone formally announced the start of construction.
“The vast majority of people who enter Victoria, British Colombia and Canada do so through this entry point here on the two ferries, mostly from the United States.
It’s a critical entry point into our country.”
Plans for future improvements include easier access and a new terminal.
The Belleville terminal currently welcomes more than 675,000 people to the Inner Harbour each year, with an estimated economic impact of $180 million annually.
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Last year’s Conference was bigger than ever, and we’re looking forward to the 2016 Conference to build on that success.
Our 2016 Conference will be held in Ottawa, Ontario - September 18-20.
This year’s theme is Accessibility in the Ferry Sector.
Special Early Bird rates for delegates and exhibitors expires January 31st, 2016.
Want to be a presenter? Shortly, we will be issuing a Call for Papers. If you have a topic that you would like to present at the conference, which fits into our theme, please contact: kbaldwin@cfoa.ca.
Hope to see you in Ottawa!
Transport Canada has announced the appointment of Ms. Jutta Wark to the position of Director, Seaway and Domestic Shipping Policy.
Ms. Wark joined the Public Service in 1990 and has held positions at Justice Canada, Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada and Transport Canada.
She also spent three years overseas working for the United Nations in The Hague. Ms. Wark joined Transport Canada in 2008, as Director of Innovation Policy, and has been the departmental policy lead on horizontal initiatives in the areas of transportation innovation and technology development, Arctic/northern transportation and accessibility to transportation. Ms. Wark holds degrees from the University of Calgary, Carleton University and Johns Hopkins.