Best Ferry Fleet

[Ferryman]

This question has probably been brought up before but what is the best ferry fleet out there in the world that intrigues you the most that is out there and obviously BCF is going to win this one severely ;D

[NMcKay]

Might as well remove harboulynx. You cant have a fleet of one ship....Can you?

[Ferryman]

Yeah I guess you're right but people might like their service

[Koastal Karl]

Yeah well if people like the service you might as well add the Coho and the Victoria Express and what about the Victoria Clippers???

[Doug]

"Europe Ferries?" Ferries on east coast? You mean Marine Atlantic and Bay Ferries? New York Ferries? You mean Staten Island Ferry? And "No Name Ferries?" That's a lame name, and what the hell is it?

[Ferryman]

Yeah I meant New York Ferries as Staten Island Ferries and I did mean the same as you said but the no name ferries is....like ferries that are run by the government but are really under highways department

[Balfour]

We have the biggest in fleet in North America and possibly in the world, and it's in the best place on earth

[Ferryman]

You got that right but I don't think it's the biggest in the world, I heard it's the second biggest and the European Ferries or whatever they're called over there are bigger. But I'm not sure if the fleet is bigger but I know for sure some ferries over there are alot bigger, so big they make the Spirits look like little boats in a bath tub ;D

[Curtis]

I think we have the biggest ferry system in North America and possibly the northern and western hemisphere.Yes you're right Ferryman they have huge ferries there the biggest one holds over 1000 cars

[Ferryman]

Thats a scary amount ;D I'm glad we don't have to transport that many cars on the routes around here seeming we still have busy traffic but not even close to as much traffic over there. I wonder if they ever have sailing waits on those floating city car carriers

[Doug]

BC Ferries is the second largest, if not first ferry operator in the world. The European ferries are quite large - but most of them aren't as big as they seem. The Baltic ferries, however, I must comment that they are quite beautiful (and they ARE the huge ones). Lines such as Silja Line. But while European service is busy, they also have long runs, so the ships have to be quite large.

[BrianWilliams]

European ferries, generally, have these features that beat us:

1) International routes, so the boats are often registered in Cyprus, Bahamas or Malta.

2) As above; so they sell untaxed liquor and operate casinos.

3) Ferocious competition. Denmark-Sweden; England-France; Ireland-France or Spain; Germany-Sweden-Finland; England-Holland ... each of these routes have two to four operators.

The Europeans have a lot of choice. Even so, the cheapest car+driver fare from Dover to Calais is more than twice BC Ferries fare from HB to Nanaimo.

Same distance (22 miles) .. are BCF's rates too low?

Yes, they are. We can't maintain our boats on this income, let alone buy new ones

We have to decide (again) are the big white boats a public service, or a profit centre.

I'm going to vote with ol' WAC Bennett. BC Ferries are as essential as any highway. Keep the fares down and serve the people. Yeah.

[craig]

I 4 sure think that BC Ferries has the best fleet around!!!! Second largest ferry system in the world and still sailing into the futer!!!! I like BC Ferries!

[Quinsam]

You know I do too, thats a thing we have in common.

Washington State Ferries could do with some minor vessels.

[cascade]

This is interesting - but I do have to be careful as the insider knowledge I have on certain European companies - routes.

Brian Williams - you are correct and also wrong. The channel crossing - are very expensive. An average car and 4 people would hit you for about £250 - return or $600.00 - now that www.speedferries.com has come along - there average crossing fee is about £50 for the same car / passenger. Right now there is a lot of under handed things going on in the Dover port with regards to this Ferry Operator. They sell there tickets - like you buy a ticket on a low cost airline. In 90 days last year they had 66,000 cars through. This made the other Ferry operators take notice - and they are all lowering there ticket prices. Speed Ferries are MAKING a profit, and will open two other routes - which funny enough where once closed - as non-profitable.


Who is the biggest - fleet ect... that is a very good quesation. It is very easy to put BCFS near the top - but over here in Europe - a lot of the companies that own say one "Brand" of a ferry service - also own another "Brand" ferry service.
I think it is a Greek family - who are the largest Ferry - owners / operaters in the World - through the number of vessels and routes. We belive that they own around 82 ro/ro ferries / fast cat type vessels and 105 routes around Europe. We also think that there average fleet age is around 14 to 15 years old. There is a Danish company who we think run it a close second. As for BCFS - we sort of place them around 4th or 5th.

So who is the best - well I find that with BCFS - they do have a number of good points - and some major bad points. I like a new fast clean vessel - that offers good service at the right price - therefore on that point I would have to say that the European fleet and service beat anything that BCF has to offer - currently. But as they say - watch this spot...(no not the white spot)

[cascade]

In adding to other comments about Fares and income on a Ferry. Yes in Europe - there are longer runs and some have sleeping cabins ect...

They stopped the Duty Free shopping - when we all became part of the EU - so the ferry companies lost a lot of income - hence they pushed up the fares. They also put in a lot of machines - slot ect... people just didn't like that - so they got rid of them. Now they make there money on good food service - Internet / WiFi - small office type service on the longer runs. The shorter runs it is on food. The fare have gone up - but with the new concept - coming in from Speed Feries - plus new players coming on to certain routes and the newer - faster boats - the whole buisness of been a ferry operator is changing very fast - and it can be profitable - as shown by Speed Ferries - so much so that the older companies are now looking to change there buisness model.

I guess it is like the "full service" airline model - once the no frills - low coast airlines hit the market - people started to travel more as there was cheaper flights ect... we are now seeing the same in the Ferry buiness - and not just here in the UK - but all around Europe. The fery companies are been hit by the cheap air travel and even cheaper car hire - so something had to happen. Hence better service - people are now coming back to the ferry service.

[Doug]

But if BC Ferries beats all the European ferry operators prices.

[Low Light Mike]

It's probably not better, but I like the Alaska Marine Highway System. The "blue canoes" are a fleet of mainly older ships, plus a new ocean-going ship (MV Kennicott) and 2 new fast-ferries.

You can see MV Columbia cruising up Georgia St. a couple nights per week.

The AMHS system has 3 distinct geographic areas of operations, so it's like 3 separate systems.

I'd like to take the Tustumena from Homer to Dutch Harbour, some day....

[cascade]

Just had a look at the prices on two routes here to see - compare fares on the BCF.

It appears that the two routes - here - are cheaper than BCF. As we have a number of different operators on each route with a number of different price bands - it takes time to work out.

So - in a very general way - I would have to say that on Route 2 - it is more expensive. The food menu are different - but a few things in BCF are cheaper - like the drinks. Other things on the menu are more expensive.

Brand named things in general are more expensive in Europe - like jeans - CD's - even can's of Coke - f*g's (Smokes) ect...

The Harbourlynx fares oneway at $25 is not that bad - again compared to a fast Ferry route from the UK - but if you take the same distance in say Spain - then Harbourlynx is expensive.

Fuel is the main thing. In the UK it is nearly twice what they pay for in Europe. Wages in England are also very expensive - compared to mainland Europe. Taxes in the UK are high - but the soical cost of employing someone in Europe is very expensive. So the general idea of "cheap" labour is not founded.

BC Wages - on the Ferries are very good if you work on them - but for a ferry operator - plus the Union deals - it makes it near impossible to make a profit in the Ferry buisness as it stands - unless changes are made - on both sides.