Ferries a back-up plan for 2010?

[Mill Bay]

January 26, 2009

Ferries a back-up plan for 2010?
By BOB MACKIN, 24 HOURS


Ferries are back on the drawing board for Olympic transportation, but only in case of emergency.

The six-year-old Vancouver 2010 bid book included plans for a fleet of 16 passenger-only vessels. After winning the bid, VANOC chose motorcoaches only.

The July 29, 2008 rockslide near Porteau Cove provincial park closed the Sea-to-Sky Highway for three days.

VANOC executive vice-president Terry Wright said the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure is including ferries in contingency plans.

"If they ever have a repeat, even outside the Olympic window, they have something they can pull off the shelf," Wright said.

"We are reviewing and exploring marine options," said ministry spokesman Dave Crebo, adding the Porteau Cove dock, near the rockslide site, would be used in case of emergency.

VANOC's Transportation Premise Document, a May 23, 2008 report obtained via Freedom of Information, said 60 to 90 per cent of spectators, 70 to 90 per cent of sponsors and 50 to 90 per cent of the workforce at Whistler venues would originate from Vancouver.

"It will likely remain up until Games time the one assumption with the greatest amount of uncertainty," said the report.

[Mike C]

Jan 26, 2009 19:57:37 GMT -8 Mill Bay said:

"It will likely remain up until Games time the one assumption with the greatest amount of uncertainty," said the report.

Greatest amount of uncertainty? I thought that was the Security Budget?

[kerryssi]

And where are they going to get these ferries from?

[Mill Bay]

Feb 4, 2009 9:42:01 GMT -8 kerryssi said:

And where are they going to get these ferries from?

According to what i heard from another source, and this is in all seriousness, not a joke: there's been talk of running the Fastcats during the Olympics in a passenger only service.

[Dane]

At least one Fast Cat, the first one, is in such a state that it would have to go into refit tomorrow to be in service for 2010.

[Mill Bay]

Feb 4, 2009 11:54:16 GMT -8 Dane said:

At least one Fast Cat, the first one, is in such a state that it would have to go into refit tomorrow to be in service for 2010.

Well, Dane... keep your fingers crossed then, ha-ha.

[Northern Exploration]

Feb 4, 2009 12:32:43 GMT -8 Mill Bay said:

Feb 4, 2009 11:54:16 GMT -8 Dane said:

At least one Fast Cat, the first one, is in such a state that it would have to go into refit tomorrow to be in service for 2010.

Well, Dane... keep your fingers crossed then, ha-ha.

Passenger only? Are they going to set up folding chairs or use the white plastic garden chairs on the car decks? They could really cram the people on then, Bangladesh style. I guess they could also load the main deck full of buses and make passengers stay seated.

Ok I have exceeded my silliness quota for the day and will step away from the keyboard.

[kerryssi]

Using the fast cats would realy curl Campbells toes. I can see the headlines now "Fast Cats bite Campbell in the ass"

[Quatchi]

I am no expert int he field, but I think that there is no way the Fastcats could be ready in one year. Not even one. The interiors need complete refinishing as they are moldy, they no longer have any life saving equipment, who know if they even will start ( I know there are rumors that they start them occasionally to make sure they run, but I have also heard they sold the engines) , and they would need to find crews train them and builds docks to support the ships.

I am going to generalize some times for the various items to take place if they were to start tomorrow.

2 months drafting and design
2 week tender
1 month final drawings contract agreements
2 weeks sea trials
6 weeks of crew training
That leaves approximately 6 months to carry out the work if the vessels are to be in service BEFORE the Olympics start.

There are probably more things that need to be done as well and who know how complex the project would have to be. I would assume it to be somewhere in the neighborhood of a project such as the Queen of New Westminsters year and a half refit.

As I said I'm not an expert, but it doesn't seem possible anymore.

Anyone else with more experience have any other ideas or thoughts?

Cheers,

[Ferryman]

At this point, I don't think we'll see the Cat's in use. Not in BC anyways. WMG is still trying to get rid of them ASAP.

thetyee.ca/News/2009/01/19/PacifiCats/

[Deleted]

From what I understood, a consultant was hired to review Ferry services throughout North America in order to see if any vessels were available to be leased for the Olympics period. That was back when the bid was being prepared. The consultant traveled all over North America to view ships and meet with companies.

Then, when the bid was awarded, the concept of using ferries to Squamish, then Trains to Whistler, was no longer an issue. The decision was to upgrade the Sea-to-Sky highway.

I learned that once a bid is awarded, there is no requirement that any specific components of that bid have to be implemented. You have to be able to move spectators and athletes to Whistler and back, end of story. So while they reviewed the concept, and the options, they didn't plan to go through with it or found the alternative to be more efficient.

There wouldn't be much time to build anything, and leasing might be an option - how many companies along the west coast could be tapped for vessels?

[Kahloke]

Feb 6, 2009 12:05:06 GMT -8 @coastallink said:

There wouldn't be much time to build anything, and leasing might be an option - how many companies along the west coast could be tapped for vessels?

Well, Hiyu might be available by then ;D

[fargowolf]

The "Obvious" solution, would be to actually USE the three existing docks.... HS Bay, Porteu Cove and Darrell Bay. Minor upgrades are required for Porteu Cove, but Darrell Bay would require a bit more work in order to be able to accommodate larger vessels, as the loading bridge would need to be replaced and the pilings modified to accommodate much larger vessels.