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Post by The Ferry Man on Jul 25, 2004 19:38:21 GMT -8
I saw on the news the other day that BC Ferries is planning to spent millions of dollars to build new vessls in denmark and now all the shipyards here that originally built most of the boats that are already out now are thinking its a bad idea and dont know why they dont build them here but there is no construction on them yet but its still early days still so we'll see what happens  |
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Post by Harbourlynx Kid on Aug 8, 2004 12:36:00 GMT -8
Well, its not that the BC yards can't handle it, its just you know in denmark, and china, you can build you a ship, and they charge you by the pound, wheter its curved, slanted, whatever, and the bc yards dont do that
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Post by Ferry Guy on Aug 11, 2004 18:27:08 GMT -8
I think the new ferries are going to suck, the most of them will be open deck like the queen of cumberland, Open deck ferries are good but not when the most part of the fleet is made of them, bc ferries is going to look cheep with all these open deck ferries, even the queen or tswassen is being rplaced with an open deck, we need somthing like a new version of the burnaby class for the bowen island and s. gulf islands and p. river to comox. New s class for horseshoe bay-departure bay, duke point-tswassen and tswassen-swartz bay and make all the c class relief and retire all the v class.move the queen of cumber land and capilano to the s. gulf islands for interisland link, put the queen of burnaby from swartz bay to s. gulf islands. THE FLEET NEEDS TO BE RETIRED AND GET A TOTAL RE_EVALUATION OF THE SHIPS CURRENT ROUTES.
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Post by The Ferry Man on Aug 13, 2004 21:48:41 GMT -8
The C Class is the best, they make a crossing so much faster than an S Class or V Class would cause they dont have to turn around in the docks all the time theres just no question about it they make it so much easier. I think they are gonna build 3 super C Class ferries in europe and be ready for business by 2007
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Post by Harbourlynx Kid on Aug 18, 2004 9:53:17 GMT -8
The Ships won't suck. and in time, we will grow accustomed to having them around. when there was talk of BC ferry privatization they had a huge discussion about replacing all the ships with open deck car ferries. and when the ship became too small, they'd slice and dice the ship and make it bigger. Are you willing to pay your tax dollars for something you've become accustomed to? those huge RO-RO ferries that BC ferries built during the early years? they are great. but the are over suited to the job they do.
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Post by Sean Goerzen on Aug 30, 2004 11:44:52 GMT -8
Why spend millions of dollars to get the ferries built in Europe when you could pay less buy having them built in B.C?
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Post by Low Light Mike on Aug 30, 2004 19:42:12 GMT -8
I think it's interesting that the 2 largest vessels that BC Ferries purchased from offshore were bought during the terms of NDP Governments.
- original Q-Surrey from Stena during NDP-I in 74.
- Chilliwack from Norway at start of NDP-II in 91.
Ironic?
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Post by BrianWilliams on Sept 18, 2004 2:09:49 GMT -8
Stena Danica (ex-Q of Surrey, now Q Of The North) is a sound ship; though after the Estonia disaster her bow doors were reworked, at great cost.
Q of Chilliwack is an ugly duckling. She is seaworthy, and exceptionally agile, but her interior is terrible (by our excellent BCF standards). In an emergency, Chilliwack would be a death trap, just like MV Estonia.
Ferries are not political, or should not be. F'r goodness sake, do we argue about the colour of the stripe on our public highways?
Of course not.
We can order ferries, built to our exacting specs, from any yard in the world. We British Columbians are the most experienced inshore navigators anywhere.
My opinion: I want new BC ferries to be built to the highest standard, designed by British Columbians for service in BC waters.
I want these boats to be built in BC, but I will reluctantly accept offers from offshore yards. When all the costs are levelled -- tax-backs, subsidies and forgiven import duties: show me the best deal.
Do not whine, British Columbians. We can, and have built great seagoing ships. And we will continue, given a chance.
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Post by Curtis on Sept 19, 2004 18:11:43 GMT -8
BC Ferries decided a few days ago building the
Super C Class went to the Flensburger Shipyard in Germany.Have you guys seen the Super C Class design on the BC Ferries News Board?(Queen of the North ex Queen of Surrey ex Stena Danica might have been built there the shipyard was built in 1872 its possible).
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Post by royal caribbean on Sept 19, 2004 20:52:03 GMT -8
German ship yards make great ships, take the serenade of the seas for example.
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Post by BrianWilliams on Sept 20, 2004 21:54:27 GMT -8
Serenade Of The Seas is one fine example, though it is a very large, specialized cruise ship (not a type I like a lot, but I respect the vessel).
The Germans build a lot more boats like our ro-ro (roll-on, roll-off) coastal ferries, including some seagoing monsters that travel from Ireland to Spain; most of the Baltic fleet; and the UK-Norway, UK-Holland ferries.
With two tragic exceptions (Spirit Of Free Enterprise and Estonia), the German ferries have been very seaworthy.
I'm sorry that we cannot build our own ships. I reluctantly agree with BCF that our best deal is with Germany's FSG.
BC Ferries alone cannot re-create a shipbuilding industry here. We tried with the two Spirit boats - both 'way over budget and late in delivery. Though their hulls were efficiently built, a multitude of subcontactors slowed their completion.
We tried again, with the Fast Cats.
That was a really noble effort. Politics aside, we tried to do too much, too quickly, with too-shallow pockets. The fact that the boats were not suited to the short Georgia crossing did not help.
Every 20 years or so, the federal gov't tenders for a new icebreaker or naval frigate. The last few jobs have gone to Sorel or Irving in NB. You can't run a full shipyard on a once in ten or twenty year deal.
Now, BCF and its local allies should buckle down to a serious program of refitting, rebuilding and new construction. Capilano-class boats are not glamourous, but there are lots of them, and we'll need some replacements.
And we can use the same ingenuity that stretched and raised the larger boats 40 years ago in making our open-deck ferries more useful.
Q Of Capilano, by the way, is one of my favourite rides. She's more capacious that she looks, and she rockets out of HS Bay with a hardly a vibration on the car deck. Nice boat.
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