Post by WettCoast on Aug 23, 2006 21:16:09 GMT -8
The following is reprinted verbatum from T-C website
Publication: Victoria Times Colonist; Date:2006 Aug 19; Section:Front Page; Page Number: A1
B.C. Ferries to revamp northern fleet
$133-million German ship to replace aging Queen of Prince Rupert; another deal in works to replace sunken ferry
BY CINDY E. HARNETT Times Colonist staff
B.C. Ferries has signed a $133-million contract with a German company to replace the 40-year-old Queen of Prince Rupert — and if smooth sailing prevails, the company will soon sign a second deal to replace the sunken Queen of the North.
Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft (FSG) is contractually bound to put the new ferry, which will operate between Port Hardy and Prince Rupert, in service by the spring of 2009 — otherwise penalties will be levied.
The German company also assumes all design, construction and delivery risk for the 150-metre vessel, which will carry 600 passengers, 130 vehicles and feature 55 state rooms with showers.
“This is a design-build, fixed-price contract that provides B.C. Ferries with substantial guarantees for delivery dates, performance criteria, cost certainty and quality construction,” B.C. Ferries president David Hahn said Friday.
B.C. Ferries is in the midst of spending about $900 million on seven new or refurbished replacement vessels. That includes a $325-million deal, also with FSG, to build three 1,500-passenger, 370-car ferries.
B.C. Ferries is also “five to seven days” from possibly buying the Sonia — a two-year-old ferry that sailed between Trinidad and Tobago until this spring — to replace the Queen of the North, which hit Gil Island and sank on March 22 while travelling from Prince Rupert to Port Hardy.
The 117-metre Sonia carries 1,200 passengers and crew, along with 220 vehicles. Although a Swedish shipping database lists the Sonia as “sold to B.C. Ferries Canada,” Hahn said there’s an issue as to whether the ferry, managed by TTT Tomasos Transport & Tourism, part of Italy’s Tomasos Group, “is free and clear to sell to us.”
If the deal comes apart, Hahn said, the company has located a vessel to lease so that “one way or another” there will be two passenger ferries serving the northern route next summer.
In the next six months, B.C. Ferries expects to replace another passenger vessel on the Port Hardy-Bella Coola route. “Beyond that, we have no other replacement plans” in the near future, Hahn said. B.C. Ferries says it will invest $2 billion over the next 15 years to renew its 34-vessel fleet, 47 terminals and infrastructure supporting 25 routes.
Washington Marine Group, which owns Seaspan as well as Vancouver Shipyards and Victoria Shipyards, withdrew in April from bidding to build the new Queen of Prince Rupert because of the tight deadlines.
New Democrat MLA Maurine Kariaganis has long said the ferry corporation ignored the geriatric northern fleet too long and should have given B.C. shipyards a more feasible length of time for building than 30 months.
The $133-million price tag for the vessel reflects soaring costs for steel, engines and for shipyard markets, Hahn said.
Before 40-year-old Queen of the North sank, critics had warned that if the hull was compromised, it would sink quickly. Hahn said “there’s no such thing” as building an unsinkable ship. The Queen of the North sank “because it ran into an island,” he said.
• Editorial: Fleet gets makeover, A18
Publication: Victoria Times Colonist; Date:2006 Aug 19; Section:Front Page; Page Number: A1
B.C. Ferries to revamp northern fleet
$133-million German ship to replace aging Queen of Prince Rupert; another deal in works to replace sunken ferry
BY CINDY E. HARNETT Times Colonist staff
B.C. Ferries has signed a $133-million contract with a German company to replace the 40-year-old Queen of Prince Rupert — and if smooth sailing prevails, the company will soon sign a second deal to replace the sunken Queen of the North.
Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft (FSG) is contractually bound to put the new ferry, which will operate between Port Hardy and Prince Rupert, in service by the spring of 2009 — otherwise penalties will be levied.
The German company also assumes all design, construction and delivery risk for the 150-metre vessel, which will carry 600 passengers, 130 vehicles and feature 55 state rooms with showers.
“This is a design-build, fixed-price contract that provides B.C. Ferries with substantial guarantees for delivery dates, performance criteria, cost certainty and quality construction,” B.C. Ferries president David Hahn said Friday.
B.C. Ferries is in the midst of spending about $900 million on seven new or refurbished replacement vessels. That includes a $325-million deal, also with FSG, to build three 1,500-passenger, 370-car ferries.
B.C. Ferries is also “five to seven days” from possibly buying the Sonia — a two-year-old ferry that sailed between Trinidad and Tobago until this spring — to replace the Queen of the North, which hit Gil Island and sank on March 22 while travelling from Prince Rupert to Port Hardy.
The 117-metre Sonia carries 1,200 passengers and crew, along with 220 vehicles. Although a Swedish shipping database lists the Sonia as “sold to B.C. Ferries Canada,” Hahn said there’s an issue as to whether the ferry, managed by TTT Tomasos Transport & Tourism, part of Italy’s Tomasos Group, “is free and clear to sell to us.”
If the deal comes apart, Hahn said, the company has located a vessel to lease so that “one way or another” there will be two passenger ferries serving the northern route next summer.
In the next six months, B.C. Ferries expects to replace another passenger vessel on the Port Hardy-Bella Coola route. “Beyond that, we have no other replacement plans” in the near future, Hahn said. B.C. Ferries says it will invest $2 billion over the next 15 years to renew its 34-vessel fleet, 47 terminals and infrastructure supporting 25 routes.
Washington Marine Group, which owns Seaspan as well as Vancouver Shipyards and Victoria Shipyards, withdrew in April from bidding to build the new Queen of Prince Rupert because of the tight deadlines.
New Democrat MLA Maurine Kariaganis has long said the ferry corporation ignored the geriatric northern fleet too long and should have given B.C. shipyards a more feasible length of time for building than 30 months.
The $133-million price tag for the vessel reflects soaring costs for steel, engines and for shipyard markets, Hahn said.
Before 40-year-old Queen of the North sank, critics had warned that if the hull was compromised, it would sink quickly. Hahn said “there’s no such thing” as building an unsinkable ship. The Queen of the North sank “because it ran into an island,” he said.
• Editorial: Fleet gets makeover, A18
