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CHEK News - August 26, 2015
The “Baynes Sound Connector,” BC Ferries’ newest and only cable ferry has arrived at its new terminal in Buckley Bay.
The vessel will service the Buckley Bay to Denman Island route replacing the Quinitsa built in 1977.
“We’re beginning the process of hooking the cable ferry now up into the cables and getting ready for operational service. The terminals are complete, the cables are in place,” BC Ferries’ Vice President of Engineering Mark Wilson told CHEK News.
Cable ferries are not uncommon across the country where 60 such vessels traverse various routes. There are 11 such ferries in British Columbia but this is the first cable ferry in the BC Ferries’ fleet and the Buckley Bay to Denman Island route will be the longest cable ferry in the world.
This still concerns people who use the ferry today.
“In the winter time the tides are high. In December it won’t be so good I don’t think. I’m nervous, I’m nervous” said Denman Island resident Greg Brown.
“They’ve never tried it before in this sort of a situation, I’m not sure the cable is going to work, I would have liked them to have experimented somewhere else” echoed Judith Scruton who also lives on Denman Island.
“We’ve taken those things into consideration, we’ve done a very high level of engineering work and studied it to ensure it will work properly” responded Wilson.
The new ferry is expected to save BC Ferries $2 million a year.
It is expected to be in service by early fall.
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CFOA’s CEO provides comment in LNG Industry Magazine about how LNG is becoming a fuel of the future for Canada’s ferry sector.
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Times Colonist - July 28, 2015
The mid-size ferries joining the B.C. Ferries fleet starting in 2016 will form the new Salish class of vessels.
B.C. Ferries announced Tuesday that the Salish class name applies to all three vessels being built at a Polish shipyard for a total cost of $165 million. The three 351-foot vessels will be called Salish Orca, Salish Eagle and Salish Raven.
“These names honour the Coast Salish people and truly reflect both the West Coast travel experience and the culture of B.C.,” said Mike Corrigan, B.C. Ferries president and chief executive officer, on Tuesday. “We worked heavily with the First Nations throughout the process.”
Each ferry will feature an exterior First Nations design that reflects its name, Corrigan said. The interior will also showcase First Nations art.
B.C. Ferries was the butt of jokes when it unveiled its contest May 19, prompting suggestions such as Spirit of the Walletsucker and Queen of the Cash Cow.
Corrigan was good-natured about that initial response. “It really promoted the naming contest for us.”
A total of 7,100 entries were submitted, representing close to 21,000 names, officials said.
The naming announcement was staged in the First Nations Gallery of the Royal B.C. Museum, where a canoe and other artifacts were on display. Representatives from the Songhees, Esquimalt and Nanaimo First Nations attended.
Esquimalt Chief Andy Thomas reflected on the ocean’s importance for his people, saying the water is sacred. “That is our highway. We are water people.”
He said by giving the ferries these names, it will be “something that you are really going to honour and take care of.”
Esquimalt elder Mary Ann Thomas spoke about the power of words and the ferries’ names. She urged people to see the names as an inspiration for all people to work together, love each other, help each other and forgive each other.
Harold Swierenga, chairman of Salt Spring Island’s ferry advisory committee, was on the 12-member panel making recommendations for ferry names. “Salish was almost a unanimous choice from the very beginning,” he said, noting that it’s a fitting choice as the vessels will all be sailing the Salish Sea.
Another panel member, Paul Catsburg, director of B.C. Ferries vessel replacement program, said the three animal names are all “iconic in their representation of the coast.”
The Salish Orca will be in service in late 2016 on the route between Comox and Powell River, replacing the 50-year-old Queen of Burnaby.
The Salish Eagle will replace the 51-year-old Queen of Nanaimo and start serving the Tsawwassen-Southern Gulf Islands route in early 2017.
The Salish Raven is expected to follow in 2017. It will also serve the Southern Gulf Islands.
Nine entrants submitted one or two of the full names that were picked. Draws were held to choose the contest winner for each name: Mark Crawford of Saanich for Salish Raven, Brian Douglas of Cobble Hill for Salish Orca, and Pat Burns of Vancouver for Salish Eagle.
Each winner receives a $500 voucher for B.C. Ferries. The other six entrants will receive a round-trip voucher.
Read more, click here.
Metro News- July 28, 2015
DIGBY, N.S. – A refurbished ferry began its daily journeys between Digby, N.S., and Saint John, N.B., on Tuesday.
Don Cormier, the vice president of operations at Bay Ferries, said the 15-year-old MV Fundy Rose began its twice daily summer crossing with about 200 passengers aboard.
He says the ship purchased by Transport Canada for about $45 million is faster than its predecessor MV Princess of Acadia.
Cormier estimates MV Fundy Rose makes the journey across the Bay of Fundy in about two hours and 15 minutes in good conditions, about 45 minutes quicker than the old ferry.
The 124-metre vessel is named for the bay it crosses and also for Rose Fortune, a woman born into slavery and relocated to Annapolis Royal, N.S., after her family escaped the British colony of Virginia.
The ship has been in Halifax since December of last year undergoing an engine overhaul, replacement of carpeting and tiles, installation of a truckers’ lounge, a children’s play area and a business lounge.
Cormier also says it has stabilization equipment to reduce the rolling motion that causes some people to feel seasick.
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July 16, 2015 - Digby Courier
DIGBY – A crowd of close to 400 people lined up at the Digby ferry terminal to tour the new-to-us Digby Saint John ferry.
The Fundy Rose pulled into the Digby terminal about 5:45 p.m. July 15, just after the Princess Acadia headed out on her regular run to Saint John.
This was only Rosey’s second visit to Digby and her first since the application of 2,500 litres of new interior and exterior paint.
West Nova MP Greg Kerr and CEO of Bay Ferries Mark MacDonald gave very brief speeches and cut a ribbon with former chair of the Bay of Fundy Marine Transportation Association Jim Thurber before leading the crowd down the ferry ramps and into the new-to-us ship.
Transport Canada purchased the 14-year-old Blue Star Ithaki from Greece last fall for $44.6 million, and renamed it the Fundy Rose, to replace the 41 year-old Princess of Acadia on the Digby Saint John run.
The Fundy Rose has been undergoing refit and renovations in Halifax since last December.
Staff directed visitors through the ship, answered questions and explained some of the improvements and additions to the ferry.
While the lower deck looks spacious enough, it holds about eight less tractor-trailers than the Princess of Acadia does.
However it does have separate decks for cars and trucks.
“That’s a big advantage from a customer care perspective,” said Don Cormier, vice president of operations for Bay Ferries. “That was on our wish list and will provide a much different experience for the passenger.”
When for example cars drive on the stern of the ferry in Digby, they drive up a ramp through a hole to the upper car deck, around the bow and come back to the other end of the ramp hole. The ramp itself can be filled with cars and then leveled for the voyage.
In Saint John, the ramp is tilted down the other way, like a teeter totter, so the cars simply drive down and off through the bow hatch.
The biggest improvement for customer care is the escalators, says Cormier.
Joyce Belliveau, now living in Oshawa but originally from Digby County, was impressed with the escalators during the open house. She says she won’t miss lugging her bag up the steep stairs of the Princess of Acadia.
“It had an elevator but I could never find it,” she says.
Renee LeBlanc, manager at the Digby Pines, says he is impressed with the accessibility of the new ship and the improvements made to it.
“I like that so much is on one floor and I like the renovations,” he said. “It is really beautiful and feels like you’re on a cruise ship.”
Lucille Saulnier of Weymouth said she likes the open concept of the new-to-us ferry.
“There’s more choices of places to sit and relax and more comfortable seating,” she said.
The main cafeteria on the Fundy Rose is called the Acadia Eatery both as nod to the Acadians of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick but also as a wink to the current ferry Princess of Acadia.
The Mid Ship Cafe will be a Starbucks outlet with beverages and pastries.
On the upper deck at the stern is a third cafe called the Crow’s Nest, which is roofed but open at the sides and stern.
A quarter of the tables there have checker or chess boards and the pieces will be available from the crew.
The Fundy Rose has two movie lounges – both will play General entertainment but one will play animated features for younger family audiences and the other will play action or drama.
The movie lounges have airplane style seating and there are also several places with booth like seating.
The front of the main passenger deck was a lounge for first-class passengers only on the Ithaki but will be open to all passengers on the Fundy Rose. It is called the Fortune Lounge in honour of the ship’s namesake Rose Fortune, the first female police officer in Canada and an entrepreneur in the shipping industry on the docks of Annapolis Royal.
The ship has two professional lounges: a business centre with computer stations and a printer and a truckers lounge.
The ship is equipped with wi-fi throughout and also has a bank of phone chargers. Because the ship has European wiring, the normal wall plugs on the ship require an adapter. But the bank of chargers have a set of three different charging chords in each cabinet. Passengers can insert a Loonie, lock their cabinet, take the lock and then get the dollar back when they return the key.
Visitors were also given access to the bridge of the ship where Captain David Doucet was answering questions and letting young people and the young at heart sit in his chair.
The Fundy Rose was expected to enter into service July 18 but that has been delayed. The Princess of Acadia will continue to operate the service until the new ship is ready.
Quick facts about the Fundy Rose
- formerly the Blue Star Ithaki operating in Greece
- built in 200 by Daewoo Industries
- 124 metres long by 19 metres wide
- carries 1,317 passengers, 245 cars
- room for 14 or 15 tractor trailers
- cruising speed of 20 knots
- can make the Digby Saint John crossing in about two hours
- 774 seats on board including 250 airline style seating
Read more, click here.
The Final Reports from the Spring 2015 Canadian Marine Advisory Council meeting are now available in the Members-Only Section of our website.
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July 10, 2015 - Times Colonist
One Canadian and two foreign shipyards have been shortlisted for the job of converting B.C. Ferries’ two Spirit-class ships to dual-fuel systems and completing their mid-life upgrades.
The three are Seaspan’s Drydock in North Vancouver, Remontowa SA of Poland, and the Italian company Fincantieri’s ship conversion yard in Palermo, Italy.
The project has been pushed back a year to give B.C. Ferries more time to work out complex details for the Spirit of British Columbia and the Spirit of Vancouver Island, the corporation announced Thursday.
Under the new schedule, the Spirit of British Columbia would be out of service between fall 2017 and spring 2018. Work on the Spirit of Vancouver Island would be carried out in fall 2018 through spring 2019.
It was not a difficult decision to change the timeline for a project affecting vessels on B.C. Ferries’ busiest route, said Mark Wilson, the corporation’s vice-president of engineering.
These are such important ships on the Tsawwassen- Swartz Bay routes that “we need certainty around the engineering, we need certainty around the schedule, and we need certainty around the procurement times for proper project management. So we need that time,” he said.
Work will be performed outside of the peak season, he said.
Negotiations with the three yards will be carried out in the next few months, B.C. Ferries said. The winning bidder is expected to be announced by late fall this year.
Work would most likely be carried out at the location of the winning yard.
Contracts of this scope attract shipyards from around the globe. The three yards were selected from a group of five, with the others in Singapore and Italy. Originally, 22 yards expressed interest, Wilson said.
Spirit vessel project costs are expected to be slightly greater than the contract cost of the three new intermediate-class dual-fuel ferries now being built by Remontowa in Poland, he said. That contract is worth $165 million.
B.C. Ferries said it would factor in delivery costs when comparing offshore bids to Seaspan’s.
Remontowa’s ship-repair and conversion yard, one of the Spirit project bidders, is geographically close to where the new ferries are being built, Wilson said.
B.C. Ferries is converting the Spirit ships to a dual-fuel system, meaning they will run largely on liquefied natural gas and also have the capability to use low-sulphur diesel fuel.
Not only is LNG a greener fuel, it is estimated that the Spirit conversion will save $9 million annually in fuel costs, Wilson said.
The mid-life upgrade is expected to add at least 20 years to the service life of the Spirit-class vessels, Wilson said. Spirit ferries are 560 feet long and can carry 2,100 passengers and 470 vehicles.
B.C. Ferries is looking for particular expertise for its Spirit project. “Ideally, I would love a bunch of yards with experience in shipboard LNG conversions,” Wilson said. However, in the world market, there is not much experience with such conversions, he said. Yards more typically have expertise in building new ships powered by LNG, or in complex conversions that do not necessarily involve LNG.
Brian Carter, president of Seaspan Shipyards consisting of Vancouver Shipyards, Vancouver Drydock and Victoria Shipyards in Esquimalt, said that winning the bid would result in about 150 jobs at the Drydock.
Seaspan Ferries Corp., which carries freight traffic, has ordered two new dual-fuel vessels from a shipyard in Turkey, which will help bolster the company’s own LNG capability. “Our shipyards will maintain those [vessels], so we are working closely with the supplier community to develop expertise in that equipment, that would augment our existing conversion capability,” Carter said.
If Seaspan wins the B.C. Ferries contract, it would be its first LNG conversion, he said.
Seaspan is already building large non-combat ships for the federal government at its Vancouver Shipyards. The ability to develop additional expertise in B.C. is seen as one of the key benefits of this work. Similarly, the Spirit work would build LNG expertise on this coast.
“That’s a great potential future market for us. It would be a great win for the region and bring a lot of capability to the region. We are going to see LNG-powered vessels operating here, so having existing infrastructure in place to service those vessels is really going to be important,” Carter said.
Now that B.C. Ferries has extended its start date on the Spirit project, “we are going to take a look at where it makes best sense for us to do the work, based on the new schedule. But our repair and conversion and engineering folks from Victoria would undoubtedly play a role in the work.”
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