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Post by YZFNick on May 23, 2005 13:27:22 GMT -8
Are there any other ferries in the world with two vehicle decks that are served by two loading ramps. I'm not talking about platform decks or internal ramps, but if there are any other double deckered ferries like ours in BC?
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Post by Political Incorrectness on May 23, 2005 16:43:26 GMT -8
yeah they have them in Europe
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Post by Curtis on May 23, 2005 16:57:13 GMT -8
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Post by YZFNick on May 23, 2005 17:20:16 GMT -8
Nice, it looks like the Cap and Chilliwack had an awful, awful accident
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Post by NMcKay on May 23, 2005 18:17:10 GMT -8
when i get around to it. ill take the Cappie and make another level. Photoshop her to make her double decked.
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Post by Curtis on May 23, 2005 18:24:44 GMT -8
We should try giving the Chilliwack a V-Class upper car deck that would be intresting
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Post by Ferryman on May 23, 2005 18:26:10 GMT -8
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Post by NMcKay on May 23, 2005 18:35:52 GMT -8
thats nice
but i was thinking something a little different
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Post by cascade on May 24, 2005 6:52:51 GMT -8
As I have repeated before - in very general terms - the loading dual ramps - shore based - as per the way that BCFS load - in Europe we don't have anything like this.
When BC Ferries put up all the routes for other "commercial" ferry operators to bid for them - as required under the Act Bill C-18 - a lot of European operators had a look at the 5 major routes and very quickly realized that they could not use any of there vessels on these 5 routes as they could not load the Ferries the same way - with out major alterations to there own vessels - which therefore made them - bidding for the routes a non goer. Also added to the pot - BCFS wanted these players to come on board as 3rd Party - not stand alone operators. In real terms they want a operator to take over the route - which includes the vessel and crew plus all the union - labour troubles / problems ect... so what Ferry operator will take on that challenge - no one that we know of.
I have also said that I am not a big fan of the dice & slice of ferries as I think you are asking for trouble - but as per your picture of the Red Funnel vessel - they have done just that - only they have sliced and added a passenger level - not lengthen it. (Your picture is dated - as they did it last month)
In Europe it is very rare that we see or hear of anything like what BCFS does to there fleet, with regards to the dice & slice method of adding years to a vessel.
You may ask why - not have ramps and load the ferry faster. Well the Ports - docks - terminals in Europe are pretty much all the same - so for a a operator that installs this way of loading and unloading a ferry he has to change a lot of things around at the Terminal level and these are owned by separate companies - not the government or ferry companies. They want to make max money out of there investment - so they need to make sure that all Ferry companies can use the same berth.
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Post by YZFNick on May 24, 2005 7:38:08 GMT -8
Makes sense. So they all have internal loading ramps and platforms instead.
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Post by cascade on May 24, 2005 9:07:49 GMT -8
Nick,
Over the last 5 to 7 years - all the newer vessels carry internal ramp systems. But in Europe - there are very good transport links to the Ferry terminals - like trains. So in theory the Ferries carry a lot more passengers than cars. As I have mention in other posts - the passenger areas on any normal European Ferry is very good - as the volume of passenger demand it. Very good food services and seat / chairs - Internet access - WC's. Also the "ride" is very smooth for the passenger.
We have a number of interesting things - like the "northern" European countries - have most of the newer vessels where as the "summer" season in the Med - have older vessels - but smoother routes - because the Med is very calm in normal Summer times - Winter times in the Med - the wind can get up and most of the "Summer" operators park there vessels.
Europe per say has about 320M people - and very good transport links - like trains to the ports - so it is very easy to travel by ferry - and they all run on time. Plus we have a number of different operators per route - so you as the customer has a choice. This includes the price you pay - as either a foot passenger or driver.
I guess another thing to remember our cars are a lot smaller than the normal American car. We don't really have the SUV or the RV type of car / Van over here - plus the commercial trucks are also not as big - high - as there are in North American (Due to our bridges ((road network)) been shorter).
I took my company BMW X5 on a ferry last weekend to Spain - and they put me on the ground level as I was too high to go up on the internal ramp system. My X5 is no where near as high as the cars - Vans in Canada.
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