New Rumor on Fastcats!!

[Ferryman]

I don't know if any of this is true but this is what somebody said on the Yahoo Forum with the Fastcats being run here still by Washington Marine!

WMG (Washington Marine Group)got TC (Transport Canada) to reclassify them as conventional vessels by limiting their top speed (what it is I haven't heard).
They might use Departure Bay which by law (Coastal Ferry Act) BC Ferries must allow them to use (although they do get charged a fee much like air carriers get charged landing fees at airports)or WMG might use their newly aquired land at Duke Point and go somewhere to the lower mainland. Also it isn't clear if the Cats are going to be a truck ferry or passenger ferry. But the date they are expected to begin operating isn't until Dec 01 2005, well after the May
provincal elections.

I just copied and pasted this but this would be weird if this actually happened, whats everyones thoughts on this?

[Low Light Mike]

Here's my feedback to this rumour, based only on my non-expert observation & bias:

- I think that a truly private company like WMG could make the Pacificats a success on the west-coast. I just believe that private companies will find a way to make them work, and make them work efficiently. With no political interference, those unique ships should eventually find their niche market.

I just presume that a company like WMG knows how to do it right. Just like a shipyard like Flensburger knows how to do it right. That's what they exist to do....so they do it well. The open-market dictates that companies like Flensburger & Washington-Marine-Group must be able to "do it well", otherwise they wouldn't get any customers.

(just to overkill my point: How many people in the eastern part of Germany would still purchase a "Trabant" as their choice of automobile? Some free-market companies seem to find ways to deliver a better product or service.).

[Ferryman]

Just out of curiousity..what is a Trabant? is it a type of automobile or something as it looks like you kinda stated?

[Balfour]

My Uncle once said that Tsawassen-Duke Point would an Ideal run for the the pacificats because it is a route with relatively open waters and is a longer voyage than the other 2 major routes. There's no Queen Charlotte Channel (the channel between Bowen Island and West Van) to go through and slow down for two-thirds of the voyage. It could also mean more service on the run, but the problem is that it is heavily used by trucks, and the FatCats can't take trucks.

[Low Light Mike]

Trabant: this is a car made in East-Germany during the communist gov't days. It was the official state-made car, built by East Germans, for East Germans.

If was horribly ineffecient and a bad polluter. Kind of like a Lada....but looked a lot like a Datsun sedan from the 70's.

It's an icon of what state-controlled industry can produce. Next door neighbours in West Germany were free to design & build BMW's & Mercedes-Benz's.....but the East Germans had no choice.

No one in a free market would ever buy a Trabant.

Maybe not the best comparison between BC-Made ferries & Flensburger-made ferries, but that's what came to mind for me.

[NMcKay]

the Pacificats can take truck. but the more trucks they take, the less capacity they have. for example 125 Cars. Vs. 15 (give or take 5) Semi Trucks