Ferries post profit
BC Ferries has posted what it calls a “modest profit” despite a decrease in passengers, according to its annual financial report.
For the fiscal period ending March 31, 2013, BC Ferries reversed a $9-million loss the previous year and posted net earnings of $15.5 million.
“BC Ferries has had a positive year, despite ridership being down,” president and chief executive officer Mike Corrigan said. “With an aggressive cost-containment program, we’ve been able to post a modest profit.”
A higher subsidy from the province and higher fares led to revenues rising by $32.6 million to $786.4 million in 2013, the company said.
The company had a 1.1 per cent decline over the previous year in vehicle traffic and a 1.2 per cent drop in passengers. In three of the past five months in the 2013 fiscal year, total traffic was higher than in the same periods the previous year, BC Ferries said.
Open burning restrictions
BC has restricted the size of open fires in most of the Coastal Fire Centre. Beginning on Monday, June 24, the following types of fires are prohibited: the burning of any material, piled or unpiled, smaller than two metres in height and three metres in width, including burning barrels; the burning of stubble or grass over an area less than 2,000 square metres (0.2 hectares); and the use of fireworks, sky lanterns or burning barrels of any size or description.
The restrictions do not include campfires that are a half-metre high by a half-metre wide or smaller and does not apply to cooking stoves that use gas, propane or briquettes.
More information is available online.
