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Post by futureferrydriver on Apr 18, 2018 18:04:55 GMT -8
The Queen of Cumberland had an operational incident with the lifeboat and have cancelled all sailings for today and tomorrow. The Bowen Queen is still running but BC Ferries made some interesting modifications to the schedules of the Salish Eagle and the Skeena Queen: The Salish Eagle will leave Long Harbour and first sail to Swartz Bay, before doing its usual milk run route to Pender, Mayne and Galiano on its way to Tsawwassen. The Skeena Queen, of particular note, will be doing its usual 7pm run to Fulford, but then after it will sail to Pender before coming back to Swartz Bay. Has the Skeena ever been to another terminal than Swartz and Fulford? I guess this is what all those dock fitting trials are for. www.bcferries.com/bcfservicenotice?id=3466www.bcferries.com/bcfservicenotice?id=3464www.bcferries.com/bcfservicenotice?id=3465Skeena does the outer Gulf Islands, albeit rarely. There were a few instances last summer where the Nanaimo was out of service and the increased thru-fares lead to heavy overloads for the Cumby and MQ from Swartz Bay out. In these situations the Skeena would do her 9pm from SWB to Fulford and then deadheaded back to Swartz to grab the overload left behind by the Cumby’s last sailing.
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Post by futureferrydriver on Feb 7, 2018 21:31:48 GMT -8
How casual are the casual opportunities? Ie: how many hours could/should one expect? Speaking from personal experience** casual work was “basically” full time in the summer months (I think BC Ferries defines full time as 21 days per month, and I was never more than a day or two off of that number (sometimes more)). I’ve only ever worked summers so I can’t give you an answer about the rest of the year, however I’ve heard less than good things about the hours casuals get in the off season. The drawback to the way BC Ferries does casual is that it’s an on-call system, so generally you have limited notice of what days you will be working. If that works with your lifestyle I think it’s a great place to work, but I can see why on-call isn’t a good fit for everyone. ** Note: I’ve worked in ticketing and terminal ops at Horseshoe Bay and Swartz Bay, I imagine my answer applies to other major terminals (Dep Bay, Duke, TSA and Langdale) but things might be different for ship-board employees and smaller terminals. EDIT: My first few summers there they have a big “disclaimer” type thing in all of the orientation/hiring procedues that was basically said “you are not guranteed any hours as a casual, and you can’t be mad if you get zero shifts all summer.” It seems this has changed now, and if I recall correctly, they guaranteed seasonal employees something like a minimum of 40 shifts (minimum shift length of 4.5 hours) for the summer period (May Long Weekend to Labour Day).
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Post by futureferrydriver on Feb 3, 2018 17:30:57 GMT -8
You're quite right that the last known location for the Queen of Burnaby isn't working anymore; her last AIS report was August 26th according to VesselFinder. I wonder if the Burnaby has been repositioned, or if she's left FMU for good.
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Post by futureferrydriver on Jan 3, 2018 16:32:32 GMT -8
My first entry is the CCel in Active Pass from a lovely sunrise sailing over the Thanksgiving weekend. I'm still working on choosing my second.
Full Size HEREEdit: Here is my second entry; The Queen's of New West and Alberni side by side at Tsawwassen.
Full Size HERE
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Post by futureferrydriver on Dec 11, 2017 21:23:19 GMT -8
Smoking should definitely be gone, I remember riding the Nanaimo through active pass on a lovely day but it was immediately ruined by the smell of smoke. I get that some people have addictions to smoking but the ferries are a public space with lots of people and their experience shouldn't be ruined by the odour of smoke. As for lower deck I have a dog and she hates the ferries and gets anxiety and starts to cause havoc in our car so when she comes along for a trip my parents will take "shifts" with her. If that was banned it would make life a bit more annoying and she hates being around unknown dogs so I'm on the fence but I personally lean towards letting people stay on the lower decks. Here are my suggestions:
All owners of vehicles having passengers with mobility issues and/or pets should make a note of these when making reservations so they can be directed by the toll booth to the loading lanes that lead up to the Third (or uppermost) Car Deck of the Spirit, Coastal, Coquitlam, Alberni, Oak Bay, Salish, or the New Westminster Class ferry.
If they must be sent to the closed Lower Deck, a deckhand could pull out a small blank version of a deck plan and put an "X" where the car(s) is/are and its/their make(s), license plate(s), and name(s) and either an "MOB" or "PET". During emergencies, the crew can quickly locate these permitted "stay in their car" folks for quick evacuation. Group these vehicles together in one lane. If any of these folks go topside, they'll have to ask for the deckhand with the marked layout to be escorted below.
I am all for No Smoking. It was bad down here aboard our WSF vessels before the ban. You had to hold your breath while walking though the midship smoking lounges aboard the Steel Electrics during their wooden cabin days. It's a lot better here now. It'll be a lot better in BC.
One exception is on the northern route from PHD to PRP. After passing Bella Bella, you enter a wide open area before entering the scenic narrow northern passages. Give smokers only one hour to light up at the stern in this lesser scenic area before the ferry enters the passages. The crew can bring out and remove close-able ash containers. Amtrak offers smoke stops for train passengers (might be eliminated in the future).
The mobility issue tags or pet markings is a reasonable idea but it would undoubtedly be abused by nearly everyone who wants the convenience of being able to stay in their car. Unfortunately thats the way society is in 2017...
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Post by futureferrydriver on Dec 2, 2017 18:14:57 GMT -8
The Inspiration and Renaissance switch back to their normal roles for December 10th according to the BC Ferries reservation page.
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Post by futureferrydriver on Nov 22, 2017 12:11:10 GMT -8
BC Ferries website shows the Salish Eagle on the 7:15 departure from Tsawwassen tonight, does anyone know if this is a website error or is the Eagle being swapped with the Raven today?
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Post by futureferrydriver on Nov 21, 2017 15:23:24 GMT -8
Solution keep the Coastal Inspiration on her regular run, Put Coquitlam on rt 1, and use BOUNDARY Pass instead of ACTIVE Pass. The Spare vessel is not in use 7days a week anyway on rt 1.
Coquitlam can not carry as many overhights as Spirit or Coastal but can carry more underhights. Coastal Celebration's main car deck should be devoted to overhights only, to make up for Coquitlam.
Currently the Queen of Oak Bay is having issues anyway...
Should have spent the extra moola to keep the Nanaimo around untill Both Spirits had Mid-lifes.....
Sounds like a lot of money wasted on fuel and Crew to move the 2 ships around
Aside from the Active Pass thing there might also be an issue with crewing the Coq for route 1. Generally the 'extra' boat during 3 boat service on route 1 is operated from Swartz, and I THINK (although I'm not totally sure) that they would need to bring in crews from Nanaimo to run the Coq out of SWB. I suppose they could run it out of Tsawwassen, but that would mess up all the schedules (and possibly cause other logistical issues that I'm unaware of).
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Post by futureferrydriver on Nov 21, 2017 9:17:49 GMT -8
Truck capacity on route 30 is key in BC Ferries' tussle with Seaspan. The ' Coquitlam is no match for the Seaspan Swift or ' Reliant, in that regard. 1) BCF has known their winter refit schedule for months. BCF also has the data on overheight traffic for Route 30 year over year and had plenty of opportunity to schedule the refits such that an issue such as this wouldn't occur. 2) In past years, a C-Class vessel has substituted on Route 30 for refits, though its been a while. Has overheight traffic grown that much in the intervening couple of years? 3) Do we know what the actual difference in overheight capacity of between the two vessel types in question? In response to 3) The overheight capacity might be similar on paper, but thats only because BC Ferries considers the 9ft gallery decks on the Cs to be overheight. I think when discussing overheight capacity on route 30 what we really mean is Commercial capacity. And commercial vehicles certainly won't fit onto the gallery decks of the Cs (due to weight, height and width restrictions). At least a third, if not more, of the main deck on the Cs can't be used for commercial vehicles due to the tunnels/gallery decks, whereas on the Coastals they can (baring any weight limits) fill the entire bottom deck with commercial vehicles. It doesn't surprise me one bit that the Coquitlam fell short of meeting the capacity needs of route 30. For reference, the BC Ferries website used to (this was back before BC Ferries assumed everyone drove a Hummer) show a car capacity of 350, including 12 semis for the Cowichan, and 410, including 36 semis for the Spirit twins. I realize the Coastals are a bit smaller than the Spirits but if a Spirit can take 36 semis then my best guess would be something around 30~ semis on a Coastal. Even if 30 is a generous guess the Coastals can probably hold twice as many semis as the Cs.
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Post by futureferrydriver on Oct 24, 2017 23:03:27 GMT -8
Thanks for sharing the Dane! It still kind of amazes me that our own ferry is all the way across the world in Poland!!
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Post by futureferrydriver on Oct 23, 2017 8:20:46 GMT -8
In December of 1978 I was on a ferry on what I will call route '10W'. While aboard that ferry I shot this rather fuzzy photo of another ferry on another route. Now this is the part where you readers get to take over ... I want you to tell us the name of that ferry (should be pretty easy), what route it was in operation on at the time of the photo, the name of the ferry 'company' operating that ferry, and a little more detail on the location. Lastly, name the ferry I was aboard from which I shot this photo ... One more thing, NO, this is NOT the Queen of Richmond ... Given the timing I think it has to be the Sechelt Queen (pictured) during her time with the MoT (Ministry of Transportation). Which of course means this must be the Comox/Powell River route. I'm not very familiar with the geography of the area, but my best guess would be that she is seen here off of Texada Island on her way to Comox. I'll leave the last bit to someone else, as I'm stumped as to which vessel you were aboard at the time.
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Post by futureferrydriver on Oct 20, 2017 7:18:12 GMT -8
I was following the SoBC's voyage past Copenhagen last night and watching the Oresund Bridge webcam (link above) when she was near the area but unfortunately it was very cloudy/foggy at the time and it wasn't possible to see anything. Hopefully I'll have a luck for her trip back!
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Post by futureferrydriver on Oct 11, 2017 13:57:24 GMT -8
Only managed to find one WSF picture on my computer; so only one entry from me this time around. Link to full size
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Post by futureferrydriver on Sept 19, 2017 7:13:38 GMT -8
Here's what is happening in Newfoundland with a similar "do not stay on the vehicle deck" regulation being enforced: H E R EIt seems ridiculous to me that they let these people cause the ship a THREE hour delay and still let them sail for the crossing... It would have been much more satisfying to hear that the vehicle got towed off the ship after them not leaving the vehicle in the first hour.
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Post by futureferrydriver on Sept 9, 2017 22:18:28 GMT -8
Why can't the Renaissance unload in berth 3? Is it not double-decked? And also, why can't the Celebration use berth 1? Since she is currently TSA's #1 she won't have conflicts with the SOVI. Berth 3 is double decked, but has no overhead walkway (that fits any current BCF vessel), so using berth 2 allows the overhead to be used. As for the Coastals not using berth 1 at Swartz Bay, I believe the answer to this lies in the early days of the CCel's discussion thread. Just to add to your answer about the Coastals (and any other major vessels) using berth 3; the ramps at berth 3 are the older conventional lift ramps so they need to be cleared of traffic to make minor ramp adjustments. Smaller boats like the Cumby and Skeena usually don't need adjustments during loads and can use berth 3 without issue but unloading a full Coastal requires a few ramp adjustments.
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Post by futureferrydriver on Sept 9, 2017 19:49:25 GMT -8
A question for anyone who has been through Swartz Bay in the last few days (specifically at night time); Does the Coastal Renaissance tie up in berth 3, allowing the Celebration to use berth 2 for the 2100 sailing to Tsawwassen, OR does the Celebration use berth 1 for this sailing (I'm assuming she uses berth 2 whenever her sister isn't there?). The Celebration uses berth 2. The Renaissance ties up at berth 3....sometimes it docks at berth 3 on it's last arrival of the day, and other times it arrives and unloads at berth 2, then repositions to berth 3 for tie-up. I haven't been to Swartz Bay since Labour Day, but I've been following the "action" on SiiTech. Cheers ferryfanyvr, you answered a second question I was about to ask as well! (Unloading in 3 vs unloading in 2 and moving)
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Post by futureferrydriver on Sept 9, 2017 13:11:39 GMT -8
A question for anyone who has been through Swartz Bay in the last few days (specifically at night time); Does the Coastal Renaissance tie up in berth 3, allowing the Celebration to use berth 2 for the 2100 sailing to Tsawwassen, OR does the Celebration use berth 1 for this sailing (I'm assuming she uses berth 2 whenever her sister isn't there?).
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Post by futureferrydriver on Aug 22, 2017 13:48:42 GMT -8
There has, for what I think may be a couple of weeks now, a service notice regarding the SOBC running at reduced speed because she is having trouble with one of the main engines. Does anyone know what the problem is, and has she been running on 3 of 4 engines since? I've notice significant delays daily for her, and reduced speed on AIS. Maybe they aren't going to fix it, since it is so close to being replaced by new engines. I don't know what the exact issue is but one of the main engines in not operational right now. So she is running at a reduced speed on 3 engines. I've heard (not sure how true this is) that they are waiting on a part to repair it, which is supposedly about 2 weeks away as of a few days ago. Since she is being pulled from service for her MLU in a little less then 3 weeks anyways I don't know if they'll go through with the repair or not. It might need to be done before she can cross the Atlantic though, so perhaps they will perform the repair after she is pulled from service in September, before she leaves. Either way I think we will likely be experiencing these delays with the 'BC for the rest of this summer.
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Post by futureferrydriver on Aug 19, 2017 16:30:48 GMT -8
So the Spirit of VI and CR will Deadhead Back to the Island with no passengers? Whats the point with this No Passenger thing? BC Ferries still has to pay the Crew regardless you will think they would want to make a buck or two with those sailings. Extra half hour (at least) they'd have to pay everyone on the ship to have a revenue sailing vs deadhead. Much quicker to unload all the cars and go straight back. Also, it takes extra terminal staff to load a vessel vs unload. There are usually enough people on the graveyard shift to unload a boat but it takes more terminal attendants to load it. Also they would need to keep ticketing staff longer and a tower controller for the late sailing. And all of these extra terminal staff would be on OT.
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Post by futureferrydriver on Aug 9, 2017 15:19:09 GMT -8
The reservation issue is talked about again. It was hours of stress ferry passenger Sue Maclean says could have been avoided.
"It said hours in advance, that it was at 100 per cent capacity. There's no way you're getting on," said Maclean.
"Then, at 9 o'clock, we checked it again, and, lo and behold, there's 30 per cent of the space available."
How much of a vessel can be reserved varies by route and terminal, but from Departure Bay to Horseshoe Bay, about 40 per cent of the deck space can be booked in advance, Marshall said.
Still, they took their chances and got on the 9:30 p.m. sailing — only to find the boat leaving with room for dozens more cars. The BCF website at 1800h did show that both routes 2 and 30 were full.www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/ferry-passenger-fuming-after-full-sailing-leaves-partly-empty-1.4239104 Tough issue for sure; on the one hand it sucks for the people they sent to Swartz Bay because the ferries were full, and I would be choked if it was me and I found out the ferry left not even close to full. But on the other hand it's impossible to predict how many people aren't going to show up for their reservations. It would be equally bad, maybe even worse, if they had been telling people to stay in case reservations didn't show up, and then have all the ressies show up and then have the last sailing leave behind a huge overload. I wonder if the reason for so many unclaimed ressies on that 9:05 sailing was double booking by people. Its been talked about before, but maybe its time to look into the one resevation per vehicle thing, or perhaps some sort of pentalty for not cancelling or claiming your reservation. This looks to me like there were a bunch of cars that made reservations for an earlier ferry they wanted, and then also made "backup reservations" so they could get off the island that night in case they missed their earlier ferry. ~35% of deck space seems like a lot of cars to not show up...
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Post by futureferrydriver on Aug 6, 2017 6:14:10 GMT -8
Can't speak for the smaller vessels (or most of the majors) but here is what I have observed working on the ramp when the Spirits come in:
1. Ship pulls into berth, the mate on the MCD hits the buzzer (1 long 3 short) as the ship is hitting the wingwalls
2. Once the ship is pushing in the guys on the bridge sound the buzzer (again 1 long 3 short) and the mate gives the signal to lower the apron onto the deck
3. The deck crew comes out and winches in the ship
4. The mate makes 2 calls on the hardline, which I assume first to notify the bridge of secure connection to the shore and second to give permission to the second officer to lower the upper apron
5. Load and unload traffic
6. Shore closure and the mate radios the bridge that the shore is secure
7. Lines come off, mate gives the signal to raise the apron and as soon as the apron is off the deck the mate buzzes (again 1 long and 3 short) to the bridge and the ship sails
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Post by futureferrydriver on Aug 4, 2017 15:37:22 GMT -8
I think something along the lines of "Ferry terminal without a ferry" could be an interesting theme. The idea being to focus on elements of the terminal (the docks, ramps, control towers, holding lanes, trestles etc.) that make it possible for our ferries to operate.
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Post by futureferrydriver on Aug 4, 2017 10:54:11 GMT -8
I think it's safe to say that we can all agree there is no easy solution... however since I can't sleep since it's way to warm in my house tonight I decided to do some brain storming and this is the best I could come up with... -Tie up the Queen of New West in Berth 1 or 2 at Tsawwassen and use her as a third boat on Route 30 -Coastal Renaissance relocates to Tsawwassen and is used as the 4th boat on Route 1 -Queen of Cowichan becomes primary Route 2 Departure Bay vessel -Queen of Coquitlam relocates to Departure Bay to be 3rd boat on route 2. HOWEVER Horseshoe Bay-Langdale still borrows her to do the 5:50pm commuter sailing -Bowen Queen is based out of Langdale and operates as 2nd boat on Horseshoe Bay-Langdale and Bowen Island runs (help with afternoon traffic and hopefully improve the Capilano's on time performance) thoughts??? anyone have a better idea? As mentioned I do think the Bowen Queen would be way too small for route 3 summers, but I like the idea of supplementing the Queen of Surrey with a smaller vessel during the shoulder seasons. We see it every year in late spring and early fall; the traffic isn't quite enough to justify the Coq but it's too much for the Surrey to handle. Unfortunately I don't think taking one of the C's from route 3 in the summer is an option, and route 2 barely gets by with 3 boats so taking the Renaissance isn't really an option. I actually think route 1 is the only major route which isn't ridiculously over capacity in the summer. One thought I had was perhaps route 1 and 30 sharing the Queen of New West, she could do 2 round trips on each route a day, but I think the crew would need to work 9 hour shifts for that which isn't ideal. Of course this would take away 2 round trips a day from route 1 which would probably make route 1 over capacity. Ultimately my main point is that all of BCF's major routes will continue to suffer from capacity issues until the fleet is updated.
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Post by futureferrydriver on Aug 3, 2017 15:14:41 GMT -8
It is becoming increasingly obvious that route 30 is way over capacity in the summer, there has been a possible wait (greater than 80% full) on the 10:45pm sailing from Tsawwassen tonight since about half past 2pm. I know they reserve a huge amount of the route 30 deck space, but I can't imagine being a standby showing up at 2:00 and being told I wouldn't get on until the 10:45, this is ridiculous and its only Thursday... Hopefully when the time comes to replace the C's and QoNW BC Ferries will be thinking about 3 boat service on route 30. An extra major over what the fleet has right now would certainly be very welcome!
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Post by futureferrydriver on Jul 31, 2017 10:23:41 GMT -8
Hello there! First time poster, please let me know if I make any forum etiquette mistakes. My husband and I are moving to Nanaimo this fall. We have a couple of very low clearance sports cars. We live far enough away that it's not easy for us to go check out all available terminals to see what would work for us, but we've travelled to and from Tsawwassen (in our SUV) and we would not be able to get the cars up the ramps to the upper deck at that terminal. Some questions for you experts: How does BC Ferries handle "special needs" cars like this? It's not like they're overheight or anything, they just have really low clearance and we really don't want to scrape up the underside of the cars as we board or exit the ferry. Is there a particular ferry terminal that is less problematic? We may be limited in our choices because we're likely bringing the cars over after October 1 and they won't have snow tires so we can't legally drive them over the Malahat. However, if it's absolutely necessary, we could likely bring the cars over early. We could consider the Anacortes-Sidney Washington State ferry if we absolutely had to (same Malahat limitation as above). Is there anything we should consider about tides and timing? Do you guys have any tips for protecting the cars once they're on board? One of the cars is going to have to go for service on the Lower Mainland so an ongoing solution / method is optimal. (ie. we could put it on a flatbed for a one-time move, but that's not really sustainable long-term unless absolutely necessary.) We'll have views of the Departure Bay terminal from our new place so we're really looking forward to watching the ferries! Thanks in advance for all your help. Low clearance sport cars is a regular thing for BC Ferries, you can just tell the ticket agents that you would like to be loaded on the main car deck (due to the low clearance of your vehicle) and they will assign you a lane with the trucks and other overheight vehicles. They can accommodate this request on any route, however one consideration to make is that on route 30 (Tsawwassen to Duke Point (Nanaimo)) there is almost always more truck/overheight traffic than there is under height vehicle traffic, and it is not uncommon to see the main deck full, while the upper car deck still has tons of room left. This is the opposite of the Tswawwassen to Swartz Bay (route 1) and Horseshoe Bay to Departure Bay (route 2) routes, where the majority of traffic is (usually) normal cars and the main deck is filled with some trucks and then topped up with cars. The point I'm trying to make is that you are more likely to encounter a sailing wait trying to get loaded on the main deck for route 30 then you are on routes 1 and 2. If you REALLY care, it might be worth mentioning that the berths for route 1 and route 30 are active lift, meaning the ramps automatically adjust during loading to keep them at an ideal angle. However for route 2 (with the exception of when the Coastal Renaissance is used, which only happens in the summer) the ramps are conventional lift, and they have to be manually adjusted during loading, which involves clearing the ramps of all traffic and takes a few minutes, so they only do it the minimum amount of times required during each load/unload. Basically you're more likely to have a less than ideal ship/ramp angle in Horseshoe Bay which might lead to some scraping in a low clearance vehicle. This is probably a bit nit-picky of an issue though, most low clearance sports cars seem to be fine with the method of 'going across the ramp very slowly at a 45 degree angle' I don't know anything about the Washington ferries, but I'm fairly sure BC Ferries has more modern equipment than the Sidney terminal and would be safer for your cars' underside. Hope this helps a bit!
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