Sidney - new Terminal ?

[picky]

if BCF wanted to take over / share the San Juans - Anacortes route with WSF?

[Retrovision]

diversification?

[Political Incorrectness]

Someone here posted about trying to get in before WMG does so that BCF does not have competiton and lose customers.

[Engineer]

truck Ferry to vancouver at night.....

[hergfest]

Would they use one of Seaspan's boats or a current BC Ferry?

[Political Incorrectness]

Cascade, their is a difference, WSF cars 65-218 BCF 16-470. We carry more pax cause we do not take as much space for amentiies. The Super C's are probably the dimensions of the current C's given their capacity if not a little longer. Why worry about the Gulf Islands if they will not be serving there? Are you saying that WMG may use the current Seaspan dock to run the cats to the Bay?

[Engineer]

cascade said:

What sort of deal does WMG have to use Swartz Bay Terminal at night for there truck ferry?

I heard the Saanich might be the new truck ferry...

[Engineer]

Sorry no answers for that.
The story is they want to run a truck ferry at night , thats all we have heard so far.

[Neil]

A few points:

I wonder what the chances would be for a mayor or councillor of Sidney to get re-elected after voting to allow a late night truck ferry service smack dab in the middle of a residential neighbourhood. Exactly. Actually, the snowball in hell would probably have better odds.

Is there a precedent, anywhere in the world, for a passenger service that ends up miles from downtown, with no rapid rail connection? I doubt it.

The Queen of Saanich would seem an odd choice for a designated truck ferry, since, as a double deck vessel with a large passenger capacity, it would be severely under utilized. Not to mention the V's constricted truck capacity, even without the gallery decks.

Cascade, I might be misinterpreting your earlier post where you seemed to be refering to Seaspan using BC Ferries docks at night, which of course they don't. Sorry if I misunderstood.

I haven't been able to find out what this BC Ferries/Township of Sidney M.O.U. was in reference to. It may not even involve a BC Ferries plan to run any service from Sidney, in which case, all our speculation is moot.

[Retrovision]

Will the new two-leveled 'floting berth' - berth 2 - being built at Swartz Bay be capable of handling a lightened, and therefore raised higher out of the water, 'FastCat'?

[Koastal Karl]

ah huh, interesting, I sort of though that's what that thing was by the airport. Looked like some sort of ramp type thingy or passenger walkway!

[kylefossett]

remember that any ferry operation that is allowed to run on the routes has the capability to apply with the ferry commission for use of any docks already at bcf terminals. has anybody on here noticed that the new berth 2 ramp at tsawwassen is wide enough to run 2 semi truck and trailer combos off side by side. I had heard a rumour that WMG was going to build a spirit class size vessel without all the fanc passenger amenities and run commercial vehicles from this berth to vancouver island, i believe swartz bay. this was a rumour i heard about a year ago and have not heard anything further. but think about the proximity to the border and when the new south fraser perimiter road is built it will be easier to get from hwy 1 to here then to get from hwy 1 to tilbury island

[Neil]

Seaspan already has excess capacity with their existing vessels.

[Retrovision]

kylefossett said:

I had heard a rumour that WMG was going to build a spirit class size vessel without all the fanc passenger amenities and run commercial vehicles from this berth to vancouver island, i believe swartz bay. this was a rumour i heard about a year ago and have not heard anything further. but think about the proximity to the border and when the new south fraser perimiter road is built it will be easier to get from hwy 1 to here then to get from hwy 1 to tilbury island

It will actually be faster to travel to Tilbury Island from Hwy. 1 than it would be to travel to Tsawwassen terminal. Residents of my part of Delta were actually mailed a map of the more specified routing around here. The maps start on page 7, and you require Adobe Acrobat to read it. Cheers. (note: the red is the existing truck-route, and the blue is the proposed / likely route):

www.corp.delta.bc.ca/assets/Environment/PDF/sfpr_municipal_draft.pdf

[nolonger]

I have it on good authority that BCF is taking over the operation of the Sydney WSF Terminal.

[Low Light Mike]

notmuchlonger said:

I have it on good authority that BCF is taking over the operation of the Sydney WSF Terminal.

For what purpose?

To just operate the terminal, while the WSF ships sail to Anacortes?

Or to operate a terminal that serves both WSF & BCF?

Or to kick-out WSF ships, and make it a BC-Ferry ship terminal only?

[nolonger]

flugelhorn said:

notmuchlonger said:

I have it on good authority that BCF is taking over the operation of the Sydney WSF Terminal.

For what purpose?

To just operate the terminal, while the WSF ships sail to Anacortes?

Or to operate a terminal that serves both WSF & BCF?

Or to kick-out WSF ships, and make it a BC-Ferry ship terminal only?

All we were told was that BCF were going to run the terminal for WSF. Weather or not that has anything to do with the overnight truck ferry (Saanich), or any future ops., I don't know.

[Quinsam]

Carrier Princess and Seaspan Doris are seen during the day time, I have pictures to prove it, they operate between Swartz Bay Berth 6 and Somewhere in Delta up the Fraser River.

[Neil]

Cascade- what you are saying about other parties gaining access to BC Ferries terminals is simply not true. The Coastal Ferry Act says, and I quote,
"BC Ferries is not obliged to share it's terminals, which are leased from the Province as owner, with other ferry operators."

So there is no point in continually criticizing BC Ferries for not making their berths usable for other operators.

[Neil]

The law, as I refered to above, seems pretty clear. Any new operators will be supplying their own terminals. That's not just the "view... put out by BC Ferries."
For anyone looking things up, the agency mentioned a number of times above as the 'BCFTA', is actually the BCTFA- BC Transportation Finance Authority. There is also the BC Ferry Authority, and BC Ferries Commission. A real alphabet soup.
As to what might be happening in Sidney, I think we've pretty much 'covered the waterfront'. WSF have stated they're not planning on dropping the international route. Perhaps BC Ferries will enlighten us with their intentions sometime soon.

Note to Quinsam Teen- Seaspan has their own terminal at Swartz Bay; they don't use BC Ferries facilities. There's a pretty good spot beside their Tilbury terminal on this side for viewing their operations.

[Retrovision]

welwyn said:

Carrier Princess and Seaspan Doris are seen during the day time, I have pictures to prove it, they operate between Swartz Bay Berth 6 and Somewhere in Delta up the Fraser River.

Seaspan-Intermodal takes full advantage of daylight hours; and their ships Carrier Princess, Seaspan Doris, and Princess Superior (ex Incan Superior) can be seen transiting the Strait of Georgia on a regular basis. In fact, about every 2 out of three times that I have taken a ferry to/from Tsawwassen terminal, I've encountered a Seaspan Ship.

Seapan, as most of you know, has terminals on Vancouver Island at Swartz Bay and downtown Nanaimo. But because of the geography of the flat delta region (as in where the river splits into multiple arms and 'reaches' (one of those reaches is actually across the street from my block, here in Ladner)) of the Fraser River, within the Lower Mainland, many don't know exactly where on the southern arm of the Fraser River Tilbury Island and Seaspan's Mainland terminal are actually located..

Well I was lucky enough to get some perspective while taking a flight out of YVR recently. In the picture that I took, facing North-East, you can see Hwy. 99 and the Massey tunnel cutting daigonally from North to South, from upper-left of the picture to lower-right. On the North West corner of the Massey tunnel, you can see the round basin of Deas, and diagonally accross the river, and up the river to the upper right of the pic you can see Tilbury Island and Seaspan Intermodal's Mainland terminal; there's even a ship or two at the terminal.


[glow=blue,1,300]
ferrypicsbygraham.fotopic.net/p28421117.html



ferrypicsbygraham.fotopic.net/c918476.html[/glow]
...My Seaspan Collection (so far)[/b]


Cheers.

[Mike C]

I remeber taking a tour of Tilbury Cement, twice, when it was still called that. Now it's called Leigh Cement, but that's off topic.

On both occasions, I got a close-up view of the terminal. I can recall it being located in the North-West corner, but I'm likely wrong.

Upon the first occasion, I ran into (not literally) the Carrier Princess, ready to sail to Nanaimo. I never encountered any vessels on the first occasion.

When you go to www.seaspan.com , there is a statistics list of all their RO/RO ferries. If you can somehow navigate through their terribly configured site, you can find a schedule.

Pic of Nanaimo terminal:


-QOB Teen

[Retrovision]

mainlander101 said:

On both occasions, I got a close-up view of the terminal. I can recall it being located in the North-West corner, but I'm likely wrong.

Pic of Nanaimo terminal:


-QOB Teen

Yup, NW end of the island, nearest the entrance from River Road.


Here's another pic of Seaspan's Nanaimo terminal, from land:


[glow=blue,1,300]http://ferrypicsbygraham.fotopic.net/p28582304.html[/glow]


...And a pic of their Swartz Bay terminal, as seen from the BCFerries terminal, showing the separation between the two:


[glow=blue,1,300]http://ferrypicsbygraham.fotopic.net/p27850337.html[/glow]


Cheers.

[Neil]

Don't know what you're refering to with your 'WSF owning the Sidney waterfront' remark, or your 'BC Ferries spin'. I've made the points I've wanted to make, and I've noted yours. Fair enough.

[EGfleet]

hornbyguy said:

Don't know what you're refering to with your 'WSF owning the Sidney waterfront' remark, or your 'BC Ferries spin'. I've made the points I've wanted to make, and I've noted yours. Fair enough.

The way I understand it, the City of Sidney owns the dock. They lease it to the Olson family, who runs it.

WSF recently signed a long term agreement for use of the dock. The long term plans for the route include a possible return of year-round service and implimentation of a twice a day sailing schedule 9 months of the year by 2017.

So no, they don't "own" the dock, but they don't have any plans on discontinuing the run.

Incidentally, WSF isn't the only ferry service using that dock any more. At least one other company utilizes it in the summer months to clear passengers through customs before sailing on to Victoria to avoid the back ups there. It might be the Victoria Express out of Port Townsend...I don't remember. I saw them several times last summer as we were leaving Sidney in the evening. I'll have to see if I can find out.