|
Post by Kahloke on Dec 23, 2023 21:27:54 GMT -8
Went on a little ferry ride this afternoon to catch Suquamish plying the waters of the "Triangle Route", a most unusual assignment for Suquamish. Suquamish en-route to Vashon from Fauntleroy
|
|
|
Post by Kahloke on Dec 16, 2023 12:19:13 GMT -8
|
|
|
Post by Kahloke on Dec 11, 2023 19:19:28 GMT -8
I created a separate thread for the next generation Olympic Class vessels because it looks like they are going to be quite different than the first 4 Olympics built in the previous decade (2014-2018). I moved some of the conversations regarding these new boats into this thread.
|
|
|
Post by Kahloke on Dec 8, 2023 7:23:49 GMT -8
this week's Weekly Update from WSF shows an early rendering of what the Flight-2 Olympics may look like. The usual disclaimers apply here, but this initial concept shows a single passenger level with the bridges directly above - no sun deck as on the current Olympics. This would make the new boats more like the Issaquah's and Evergreens, which also only have one passenger deck. I do like the sun deck on the Olympics, although it's pretty rare when that deck is open, unless the vessel is on the Bremerton run. wsdot.wa.gov/travel/washington-state-ferries/about-us/weekly-update
|
|
|
Post by Kahloke on Dec 7, 2023 19:29:55 GMT -8
Vessel Characteristics: • Double-ended vehicle and passenger ferry for at least 144 autos and 1500 passengers. • Steel Construction • Hybrid battery-diesel electric propulsion with automated shoreside charging system. • Fixed shaft line and fixed pitch propellers. • L.O.A. – 407’- 3” • Breadth – 83’- 2” • Draft, Subdivision - 18” 0” • Displacement - 4850 LTSW • Transit speed - 16 Kt (Battery Only) • Charge Time – 20 minutes, including connection and disconnection time. A 47' lengthening while maintaining the same 83'-2" breadth as the Flight 1 Olympics will add quite a bit to the capacity. If we figure on a +/- 20' aeq standard for cars, they should be able to accommodate 22 more vehicles, so that would put vehicle capacity at 166 - slightly more than the 1967 vehicle capacity numbers for the Supers. I imagine the passenger number will increase, too. I always thought the original Olympics were/are a bit stubby and would look more proportional if a bit longer. Nice to know they're going to do that with the Flight 2 Olympics.
|
|
|
Post by Kahloke on Dec 4, 2023 11:54:51 GMT -8
|
|
|
Post by Kahloke on Dec 4, 2023 7:33:23 GMT -8
I wonder if Alaska Airlines will push for a true replacement of Boeing 757 for long thinner routes for future of Hawaiian Airlines planes. I wonder if Alaska Airlines will take some long haul flights of Alaska Airlines brand. The article you posted the link to, and other articles I have subsequently seen, point to Alaska Air Group keeping the brands separate. So, in that vein, I would expect the incoming 787-9's to be in the Hawaiian Air livery. Alaska Airlines, itself, will likely stick with 737's. On another note, I do kind of think Boeing missed an opportunity in not developing a Next Gen program for the 757 the way they did with the 737 series. My personal opinion, and yes, I'm armchair quarterbacking here, is Boeing never should have developed the MAX series 737's. That airframe is super old - it was time for a clean sheet design, and maybe should have gone ahead with a Next Gen 757. Airbus has that market all to itself now with the next gen A321 series. The A321-NEO and A321-XLR is the only real 757 replacement option out there, and even those aren't quite as large as the 757. Boeing has gotten themselves into a hole here. I'm not sure if they are going to recover from this.
|
|
|
Post by Kahloke on Dec 4, 2023 7:20:46 GMT -8
As a reminder, this link was posted on page 7 of this thread: www.shippax.com/en/news/lmg-marin-assigned-design-agent-for-bc-ferries-new-major-vessels.aspxIt shows an early rendering of what the new major vessels could look like. The concept shown here looks like a Super-C, or Coastal Class vessel, on steroids. It does appear to move the bridge up one level, but I'm not putting too much faith in this drawing representing what will actually get designed and built. It does seem to confirm that BC Ferries is wanting to build vessels with the same vehicle/passenger capacities as the Spirits. The article in the link provided indicates 2200 lane metres for vehicle capacity which is roughly 366 cars per BC Ferries 6 metre AEQ standard. I kind of like the design shown in this initial rendering, but I expect significant changes in what eventually will be the final design.
|
|
|
Post by Kahloke on Dec 3, 2023 18:19:32 GMT -8
I'm glad they're going to keep the brands separate. I like Alaska, but Hawaiian has a very different on-board atmosphere. I would hate to see Alaska Airlines change that like they did with Virgin America. I'm curious how fleet planning is going to go. Alaska just got rid of the last Airbus planes from the Virgin America buyout, so they're now back to being "proudly all Boeing". Hawaiian has A330-200's for their long haul operations, new A321 NEO's for some of their medium-haul ops, and the venerable B717 for inter-island routes. I know Hawaiian had already chosen the 787-9 to replace the A330's, so that should dovetail nicely into Alaska's Boeing preference, but those A321's are brand new. I hope Alaska doesn't nix future orders of that plane. It's a really good option for longer, thinner routes.
|
|
|
Post by Kahloke on Dec 2, 2023 17:46:23 GMT -8
Moved the post above into this thread
|
|
|
Post by Kahloke on Dec 1, 2023 19:02:55 GMT -8
|
|
|
Post by Kahloke on Dec 1, 2023 9:48:42 GMT -8
It's time to start planning our next flagship banners for the first half of 2024. We're going to try a 6 month rotation for next year. So, post your nominations in this thread and at the end of December or beginning of January, the moderators will pick our favorites, and those will be the ones to grace the forum header from January thru June in 2024. The theme for 2024 is BEST OF 2023, which essentially is your best ferry photos from 2023. Here are the basic guidelines around that: - any ferry in the world is eligible - photo must be taken in 2023 - photo must be your own - you can submit up to 6 photos As before, there will be around 12-13 submissions picked for the rotation photo guidelines (flagship nomination rules still apply) - Banner size = 1200x340 pixels - post 1024x290 nomination to thread with link to full size image - please make sure all of your links work for those who haven't submitted entries before, here is a "how-to" on creating a banner image in Photoshop and uploading it to a Flickr account. This is only one way to do it. The process is likely similar with other programs, but the steps may be different. ferriesbc.proboards.com/thread/3510/forum-flagship-rules-information
|
|
|
Post by Kahloke on Nov 30, 2023 10:05:40 GMT -8
The Issaquah's are being worked to death with little downtime. Even though they've all received MLU's, it's logical to invest more money into those vessels as they will likely need to last longer than originally planned. EGFleet wrote a very good blog on the "state of the ferries", and why we should be worried. I'll post a link to that here - it's a good read. BC Ferries has it's troubles, but I think WSF is in worse shape overall. evergreenfleet.com/3-4-of-a-fleet-updates/
|
|
|
Post by Kahloke on Nov 22, 2023 21:01:14 GMT -8
I think the existing ferries are good enough to last until past 2029, but getting another old used ferry is a good idea. I would disagree with you on that one. Any time BC Ferries has purchased a used vessel in recent years, it has not gone well for them, and they've ended up spending a ton of money to bring them up to a serviceable condition. Northern Adventure and Northern Sea Wolf come to mind. For that matter, they probably would have been money ahead in building a 4th Coastal back in 2008 rather than refurbishing Queen of New Westminster. If I remember correctly, the cost overruns on that refit were astronomical.
|
|
|
Post by Kahloke on Nov 22, 2023 20:56:09 GMT -8
2029!
Before the first boat is in service? I really don't think that is good enough. They will have to limp along with what they have as the population and demand for service grows. I think maybe they should look to acquire something used to give them another major vessel to help with the existing capacity & reliability issues.
Also, they need eight new boats in my humble opinion (to bring the number of major vessels up to 13 from 11). For summer operation; five on route 1, three each on routes 2 & 30, and two on route 3.
That's looking a lot like WSF's situation. I will be surprised if WSF sees a new boat before 2030, and they're worse off than BC Ferries where vessels are concerned.
|
|
|
Post by Kahloke on Nov 21, 2023 7:18:06 GMT -8
We're discussing the issue on a staff thread. Stay tuned.
|
|
|
Post by Kahloke on Nov 10, 2023 19:16:01 GMT -8
how do our storms affect puget sound? Our waters are generally more protected, so less likely to see cancellations. That said, Port Townsend-Coupeville sailings are cancelled this evening, but that route is more exposed than the central and south sound crossings. Anacortes boats are running late but not cancelled. wsdot.com/ferries/schedule/bulletin.aspx
|
|
|
Post by Kahloke on Nov 8, 2023 16:22:20 GMT -8
Interesting news story on BART's declining ridership. I think safety is the number one reason ridership has declined in the system.
|
|
|
Post by Kahloke on Oct 21, 2023 13:31:48 GMT -8
|
|
|
Post by Kahloke on Oct 20, 2023 7:41:18 GMT -8
Normally don't post these kinds of service bulletins because they seem to be routine these days, but today's cancellations seem like a lot, even for WSF, and we've been discussing the possible earlier return of Sidney service in that thread, but today is a prime example of why even thinking about Sidney is a long way off. Some of these services have resumed, but Samish is out until the 12:35 sailing to Lopez. One round of inter-island sailings is cancelled this morning, and both Mukilteo-Clinton and Point Defiance-Tahlequah routes were down a boat this morning. In the case of PD-T, their only boat. wsdot.com/ferries/schedule/bulletin.aspx
|
|
|
Post by Kahloke on Oct 19, 2023 13:11:16 GMT -8
Huh? What are you on about here? They could find private operator for couple years while they figure out to retrain stuff at Washington State Ferries. They could, but the reasons listed by SS San Mateo and Neil in the posts above point to that solution being a long shot. WSF has bigger issues on its plate right now, and I have to think restoring service to Sidney is dead last on its priority list, even if they have stated they are committed to restoring the route. Hiring new people has to be the number one priority; these sailing cancellations are just killing any semblance of reliability. I would expect route restoration to be the next priority, starting with Seattle-Bremerton and then Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth. After that, building new vessels is next on the list which we know keeps getting pushed out. They're supposed to choose a builder next year.
|
|
|
Post by Kahloke on Oct 18, 2023 15:01:11 GMT -8
Where would you send it? Cathlamet is fine at Vashon. Last year's collision was pilot error, not anything wrong with the vessel itself. You’re right but why don’t they operate kittas and issquah They have, and do. Issaquah, up until recently, has largely been a Vashon boat. Cathlamet got kicked to Vashon in 2014 when Tokitae replaced her at Clinton. Honestly, I've given up on figuring out where vessels should be in this current turbulent time. There's a lot that goes on behind the scenes I don't know about; maintenance schedules, shipyard availability, emergency repairs - take your pick. All of those factors (and more) dictate when and where vessels are placed. For instance, it puzzles me why Kitsap is running inter-island when they have the slower and much smaller Salish running #2 at Edmonds-Kingston. It can't even keep the schedule. Why didn't they make that swap? I'm sure there is a reason that me, the uninformed citizen, is not privy to, and that's ok. It's not my sandbox, so to speak.
|
|
|
Post by Kahloke on Oct 18, 2023 11:41:42 GMT -8
Do you really think it’s a good idea to have the Cathlamet on the Vashon route again. Something’s gonna happen Where would you send it? Cathlamet is fine at Vashon. Last year's collision was pilot error, not anything wrong with the vessel itself.
|
|
|
Post by Kahloke on Oct 18, 2023 7:01:44 GMT -8
Route 1, 7am from Swartz Bay and 9am return cancelled due to crew availability. Haven't seen a major route sailing cancelled on the "full time" schedule in awhile! Starting to look like WSF's daily alerts. Always anyone's guess as to which sailings on any given route are cancelled due to crew availability. I lucked out on Saturday when it was Samish's morning sailings that were cancelled and not Kaleetan's.
|
|
|
Post by Kahloke on Oct 15, 2023 18:25:51 GMT -8
I seriously doubt Washington State Ferries will lease a vessel. I could be wrong on that, but as SS San Mateo noted, there's more than one issue here. Lack of vessels, sure, but also lack of crew. They're having a hard time manning vessels as it is. FYI, I moved all posts regarding this news article into this thread as it pertains directly to this route.
|
|