Seaspan Ferries - photo & discussion thread

[mrdot]

:)it is many years since my last tour thru Carrier Princess when she was the last new vessel on the CPR's Nanaimo service and she was a full service in those days! Just one example of what we used to build on the coast! and I think the tarif to Nanimo was five $ or there abouts, mind you the fare for car & driver was 5 and 2 $ on the BC ferries in those days, wages were a lot less, but ordnary folk could pay the tolls! :)mrdot.

[Koastal Karl]

Awsome photos! I have always wondered what the Carrier Princess looks like inside and have never really seen any up close onboard photos of the CP. She looks like a cool ship.

[Retrovision]

A great bunch of both quality and rare shots there, thanks for capturing and posting those, The Canadian Viking. I too have been looking for ages to actually see into the Carrier Princess' former passenger lounge, etc.

Here's a pittance compared to that CP tour, caught from the north end of Deas Island Regional Park...And last but not least, in all of her utilitarian glory,
Seaspan Coastal Intermodal's Seaspean Greg (ex Greg Yorke)[/b]


Seaspan Coastal Intermodal's Seaspan Greg on the Fraser River @ Deas / G.M. Tunnel by indyinsane, on Flickr


Seaspan Coastal Intermodal's Seaspan Greg on the Fraser River @ Deas / G.M. Tunnel by indyinsane, on Flickr


Seaspan Coastal Intermodal's Seaspan Greg on the Fraser River @ Deas / G.M. Tunnel by indyinsane, on Flickr


Seaspan Coastal Intermodal's Seaspan Greg on the Fraser River @ Deas / G.M. Tunnel by indyinsane, on Flickr


Seaspan Coastal Intermodal's Seaspan Greg on the Fraser River @ Deas / G.M. Tunnel by indyinsane, on Flickr


Seaspan Coastal Intermodal's Seaspan Greg on the Fraser River @ Deas / G.M. Tunnel by indyinsane, on Flickr

[Scott (Former Account)]

Seaspan Doris en route to Tilbury. (Photo taken this afternoon)

[lmtengs]

Seaspan Challenger and Coastal Spirit, both moored at Vancouver Dry Dock today.

She looks like she was painted VERY recently:

[Ferryman]

The new "Seaspan Ferries" logo now on the Carrier Princess. The old "Coastal Indermodal" logo still exists on the Princess Superior. I haven't had a close enough look at the Seaspan Greg to see if they have changed it - my guess is not

[Dane]

Looks nice. Thanks for sharing.

[mrdot]

:)pritty good shot of the now elderly Carrier Princess, and I don't find these logo's jarring like the rebranded dogwood was! mrdot.

[Retrovision]

Here would certainly be an appropriate place to mention this change in the online "history" given by the company that certainly has recently been updated...


From: www.seaspan.com/seaspanferries/history.htm
(Note the emboldened words at the bottom. I understand that underlining is meant for something else, but figured it would help draw the eye in this case)

History
The underlying principle of intermodal transportation is simple: optimize the movement of people and/or goods between two points.

The initial local water service on the Pacific Coast was first provided by the Hudson’s Bay schooner Cadboro, in 1827, followed by the company’s paddle-wheel steamer, the Beaver. Build in England; the Beaver was brought around Cape Horn to the BC coast in 1836.

The Hudson’s Bay Company continued to exclusively operate the necessary coastal services until around 1877 when Captain John Irving entered the industry with a regularly scheduled service between Victoria and New Westminster by the Pioneer Line (founded by his father William, in 1862).

In 1880, when the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) west of the Rockies got underway, Captain Irving was given a contract to carry passengers and freight from Victoria to Yale, a small community 15 miles outside of Hope.

In 1883, the fleets of both the Pioneer Line and the Hudson’s Bay Company were consolidated to form the Canadian Pacific Navigation Company (CPN), under Captain Irving’s direction.

In 1901, CPR purchased a controlling interest in the CPN. The formal transfer took place, in 1903. As a result, the BC Coast Steamship Service (BCCSS) was formed.

One of the vessels of the new CPN fleet was the former Hudson’s Bay vessel, Princess Louise, which became the precursor to the famed BCCSS fleet of 32 Princess ships. Carrier Princess and Princess Superior are still in service to this day.

By the end of WWII, it was becoming clear that new forms of transportation were necessary. People had their own cars and wanted to travel with them. Princess ships like the Nanaimo, Marguerite, Elaine and Patricia were designed with fairly extensive car accommodations. However, a number of circumstances – most particularly a disastrous strike and the creation of a government ferry system in the late 1950s – combined to effectively end BCCSS’s domination of passenger service between the Mainland and Vancouver Island.

There was still demand for the movement of freight. The transfer barges of the first half of the century gave way to truly intermodal ferries, culminating in 1955 with the Princess of Vancouver, a vessel capable of handling passenger vehicles, railcars, trucks and trailers. This evolution continued with the advent of self-propelled, roll on, roll off vessels that were faster and more efficient. In the initial stages, BCCSS chartered ships to replace the transfer barges, but eventually purchased its own self-propelled ship, a converted US Navy LST renamed Trailer Princess.

Although BCCSS remained a legal name, a new identity Coastal Marine Operations (CMO) was created to reflect CPR’s new Bay of Fundy service on the east coast, in 1977.

Unfortunately, 1981 marked the end of the company’s passenger service. In 1995, CMO’s operations moved from their Coal Harbour location in the Burrard Inlet to a state of the art facility at Tilbury Island, in Delta, BC.

The Washington family purchased CMO on November 17, 1998 and renamed it Seaspan Ferries Corporation (SCIC). In 2011, the company went through a rebranding and is now called Seaspan Ferries Corporation

[Retrovision]

Apr 3, 2011 17:37:57 GMT -8 Ferryman said:

The new "Seaspan Ferries" logo now on the Carrier Princess. The old "Coastal Indermodal" logo still exists on the Princess Superior. I haven't had a close enough look at the Seaspan Greg to see if they have changed it - my guess is not

My observation has been that only the "rebranding" paint scheme applied-yet has been to the Carrier Princess, so far.

Nice shot, ferryman. As this is a discussion thread I'll present only a single representative pic of my own here:

Carrier Princess Passing Deas Pacific Marine on the Fraser River by indyinsane, on Flickr

[WettCoast]

CP Rail's Carrier Princess, with a load of rail cars for the E&N, seen out bound from Vancouver with West Van apartments for backdrop - 6 April 1977


© WCK-JST - Kodachrome - 77-2-3 - VueScan - hosted on WCK-JST Flickr Site

[Low Light Mike]

From Nanaimo museum:
- a photo of Carrier Princess at Nanaimo's Wellcox yards dock.

[WettCoast]

Carrier Princess in CP Rail colours at north entrance to Active Pass - circa 1973

Carrier Princess @ the northern entrance to Active Pass - c1973
© WCK-JST by Jim Thorne, on Flickr

[whidbeyislandguy]

One more..

Attachments:

[glasseye]

Seaspan Doris at Vancouver Drydock earlier this year:

[WettCoast]

Seaspan's Carrier Princess en route to Swartz Bay - viewed from shoreline in Miners Bay, Mayne Island - 6 June 2011...


From the JST Flickr photo site ©

[Low Light Mike]

A new thread to break-apart the working-freight photos.

....this one is for Seaspan Ferries only.

[Low Light Mike]

Some nice Seaspan Doris shots in Nanaimo, in this stream by Gordon Hulford
- 33 photos

www.flickr.com/photos/44480433@N05/sets/72157623211537166/with/4274662305/

[Low Light Mike]

Seaspan's Princess Superior, as seen at approx 6:30am on July 2, 2011.
- as seen from Route-30's Coastal Inspiration.

2 different settings used on my camera, hence the different looks.

[Low Light Mike]

Princess Superior headed for Nanaimo harbour, on July 7, 2011.
- photos from Pipers Lagoon park.

She's behind Snake Island.
- yes, I like the peek-a-boo effect, but I noticed that there's a volcano in the background.



- With Gabriola Island in the background.

[lmtengs]

Princess Superior heading to Tilbury from Swartz Bay on July 21st:



Rounding the bend into Active Pass.

A bystander on the Nanny was overheard saying 'What a weird looking ferry!'

[Low Light Mike]

Seaspan Ferries' Carrier Princess, seen at sunrise at Nanaimo on Saturday Sept 10th.




With the Celebrity Millennium

[WettCoast]

Seaspan's Carrier Princess en route to Swartz Bay - 8 September 2011. This photo was shot from the Queen of Nanaimo between Otter Bay (Pender Island) & Village Bay (Mayne Island).


Clicking on the photo will take you to a high resolution version (1680 pixel wide) on Flickr.
From the JST Flickr photo site ©

[Low Light Mike]

Seaspan Doris leaving Nanaimo at 6:15am on September 28, 2011.
- 55 minutes before sunrise...

Things are a blur as she backs out of her berth:



She backs out and starts her pivot-turn




My flash shows the reflectors on the trailers across her deck.

[Low Light Mike]

Carrier Princess seen in October 19, 2011, from a point in Ruckle Park, as she sails up Swanson Channel:


Emerging from behind Beaver Point
















with SOBC:







While Queen of Nanaimo is between Mayne & Pender Islands