VIDEO – Powell River residents who attended an open house about BC Ferries’ proposal to replace the Queen of Burnaby with a smaller ship expressed concerns about its size and the open deck design.
An executive team consisting of David Hendry, director of strategic planning, Peter Simpson, director of fleet operation strategy, Captain Al de Koninck, marine superintendent for the northern Gulf Islands and Sunshine Coast region, and Darin Guenette, public affairs manager, presented the replacement proposal at an information session on Wednesday, May 1. The plan, which launches the company into a new strategy of standardizing its fleet, calls for two 145-vehicle ferries and one 125-vehicle ferry to serve the Powell River-Comox and the Gulf Islands-Tsawwassen routes. The corporation is also replacing the Queen of Nanaimo, a sister ship to the Burnaby, which serves the Gulf Islands route.
The proposal would see the new 125-vehicle vessel act as the replacement vessel on both routes when the main ships are scheduled for maintenance and refits. The smaller ship would also see active duty in the Gulf Islands during the high traffic summer months and shoulder seasons.
The design of the two larger ships is based on a platform for 85-automotive equivalent (AEQ), which can be increased to 145 with gallery decks and platforms. BC Ferries is projecting the three new vessels will cost $520 million over 40 years.
BC Ferries is holding information sessions in all communities served by the vessels as part of the process of sending an application for the project to BC Ferry Commissioner Gord Macatee. The commissioner must approve all vessel replacements over $30 million under Section 55 of the Coastal Ferry Act.
The intent of the program is to build a common platform for potentially 10 different vessels, Hendry explained. “The intent is to get away from building vessels specifically for routes and to have the concept of interoperability standardization so we can swap vessels between routes and have the flexibility of adjusting down the road, depending on what happens with traffic growth,” he said.
Bill Cripps, chair of the Northern Sunshine Coast Ferry Advisory Committee, said he thinks the vessel is too small. He said in fiscal 2011, 16 loads on the Burnaby were greater than 140 AEQ and the maximum load was 191. In 2012, there were 32 loads greater than 140 and the maximum was 157. He said the company’s data tells him “there’s going to be a whole bunch more overloaded sailings and a lot more people waiting an extra four hours.”
Cripps also pointed out 2012 marked record low ridership for BC Ferries and if the economy improves and fares are lowered, ridership would increase. He said he thinks BC Ferries should add 40 feet to the vessel to accommodate about 20 more vehicles. “I don’t think we should be looking at a vessel that is any smaller than 165 AEQ,” he said.
Hendry said when the vessel is introduced in 2017, it will meet capacity 98 per cent of the time. “You would have two per cent of sailings that would be overloaded, but that’s on a sailing-by-sailing basis.” The forecast is for 96 per cent to 2027, Hendry added.
Chuck Childress, a Texada Island resident who is a former member of the Coastal Council and the FAC, pointed out the maximum capacity for passengers on the Burnaby was 1,250, while for the proposed vessel it was 585. “If there are large groups of people walking on, we have, not only a smaller vehicle capacity, we have a smaller passenger capacity,” he said. “I’m not convinced, and I will not be convinced until after the Island Sky sails next winter from Saltery Bay to Nanaimo then Saltery Bay to Comox, that the Island Sky design will sail as often as we would like it.”
Childress also asked why the company isn’t considering a life-extension for the Burnaby, as Blackball Ferries just did for the Coho, a precursor to the Burnaby, which runs between Victoria and Port Angeles. Hendry replied that it was a question of getting value from the financial expenditure. “It’s like an old car, basically,” he said. “You get to a point where it doesn’t make sense to keep throwing money into it.”
Other participants also questioned why the recommendation was for an open deck vessel. Hendry recommended that people make their thoughts known to the commissioner.
Plans to replace the North Island Princess, the regular vessel between Powell River and Texada, will be taking place in a separate process, but the company expects a replacement to be sailing by 2017-2018 as well. It is exploring different options, Hendry said. “It’s a bit challenging because the smaller class vessel that we would be looking at for a smaller platform is tied to vessels that are coming to their end of life later on, probably in the mid-2020s,” he said.
A smaller vessel will have fewer crew and Hendry said amenities on the vessel will need to pay for themselves. There are four options for food service, ranging from a snack bar to a cafeteria with retail.
With the concept of cross-subsidization, Hendry said, all capital costs are spread across the entire system. “They’ll impact fares for everybody,” he said. “Everybody is going to get the same fare increase, it will all be factored in across all routes.”
City of Powell River Councillor Chris McNaughton asked about the heavy weather matrix used on Route 17 and pointed out before the company started using the matrix the average number of cancellations on the route was 14 and the low was five. With the introduction of the matrix, in the first year there were 50 cancellations, followed by 72. He asked if the new vessel design will bring the number of cancellations back to historic levels.
The weather matrix for the Burnaby takes into consideration the age of the vessel, de Koninck said. “To say that we’re going to return to those old statistics, couldn’t guarantee that,” he said. “The probability is that with a new vessel and design, the technical specs speak to the requirements to be able to operate in certain conditions. One would expect the reliability of the vessel in heavy weather to be much higher than the Burnaby.”
Residents unable to attend the information sessions who would like to learn more about vessel replacement can visit www.bcferries.com to see information contained on the story boards. All comments, which will be forwarded to the commissioner, can be sent to [email protected]. The deadline for submissions is May 15.
