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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