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Post by WettCoast on Jul 25, 2015 8:48:19 GMT -8
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Post by Low Light Mike on Jul 25, 2015 9:21:16 GMT -8
Thanks for finding and posting that news. It makes sense that the 4 new cable-barges will be Adams Lake, Harrop, Glade and Arrow Park. These are all old-style watercraft, with Adams Lake and Arrow Park in particular having a unique look. Thankfully, I've been on all four of these old watercraft, and uploaded some photo and video legacy for them all. I am hoping that Waterbridge gets these contracts. If they want to avoid slicing-&-dicing, they can build 1 at their existing Nakusp site, two in Nelson, and 1 near the mill at Adams Lake. ----------------- Schedule and sizes: - 2016 - Adams Lake - 50 passengers, 9 vehicles - 2017 - Glade - 50 passengers, 9 vehicles - 2018 - Harrop - 100 passengers, 24 vehicles - 2019 - Arrow Park - 50 passengers, 24 vehicles The Harrop route serves the largest isolated population base, of the 4.
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Post by WettCoast on Jul 25, 2015 15:55:24 GMT -8
I had a look at the Arrow Park ferry last fall & I wondered just how many people are served by it. My impression is that that population is tiny but I may be mistaken (anyone know?) Building a new ferry that can carry 24 cars & 50 passengers on this route seems like it would be four times larger than needed. Contrast that with Denman & Hornby Islands getting a 50 car ferry (what is the combined population of those islands, Neil?). We need also to think about how many round trips daily can be made on such a very short route, when comparing to a coastal route like Denman/Hornby.
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Post by Low Light Mike on Jul 25, 2015 16:00:56 GMT -8
I had a look at the Arrow Park ferry last fall & I wondered just how many people are served by it. My impression is that that population is tiny but I may be mistaken (anyone know?) Building a new ferry that can carry 24 cars & 50 passengers on this route seems like it would be four times larger than needed. Contrast that with Denman & Hornby Islands getting a 50 car ferry (what is the combined population of those islands, Neil?). We need also to think about how many round trips daily can be made on such a very short route, when comparing to a coastal route like Denman/Hornby. It seems like overkill to me, too. My only thought was that there might be loaded logging trucks that require the extra deck size and strength. Or maybe the too-large size allows some future options for some day moving the new Arrow Park ship to replace the Needles ship. Having 2 ships that are closer in size to each other. That's just speculation of the foggiest degree.
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Neil
Voyager
Posts: 7,151
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Post by Neil on Jul 25, 2015 23:06:44 GMT -8
I had a look at the Arrow Park ferry last fall & I wondered just how many people are served by it. My impression is that that population is tiny but I may be mistaken (anyone know?) Building a new ferry that can carry 24 cars & 50 passengers on this route seems like it would be four times larger than needed. Contrast that with Denman & Hornby Islands getting a 50 car ferry (what is the combined population of those islands, Neil?). We need also to think about how many round trips daily can be made on such a very short route, when comparing to a coastal route like Denman/Hornby. It seems like overkill to me, too. My only thought was that there might be loaded logging trucks that require the extra deck size and strength. Or maybe the too-large size allows some future options for some day moving the new Arrow Park ship to replace the Needles ship. Having 2 ships that are closer in size to each other. That's just speculation of the foggiest degree. Denman and Hornby year round, 2000, 6000 or so in summer.
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Post by Wolf on Jul 29, 2015 21:24:29 GMT -8
Thanks for finding and posting that news. It makes sense that the 4 new cable-barges will be Adams Lake, Harrop, Glade and Arrow Park. These are all old-style watercraft, with Adams Lake and Arrow Park in particular having a unique look. Thankfully, I've been on all four of these old watercraft, and uploaded some photo and video legacy for them all. I am hoping that Waterbridge gets these contracts. If they want to avoid slicing-&-dicing, they can build 1 at their existing Nakusp site, two in Nelson, and 1 near the mill at Adams Lake. ----------------- Schedule and sizes: - 2016 - Adams Lake - 50 passengers, 9 vehicles - 2017 - Glade - 50 passengers, 9 vehicles - 2018 - Harrop - 100 passengers, 24 vehicles - 2019 - Arrow Park - 50 passengers, 24 vehicles The Harrop route serves the largest isolated population base, of the 4. Waterbridge better get the contract for arrow park.. If they do ill be working there as an apprentice welder and i desperately need this or i will have to go elsewhere
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Post by Wolf on Jul 29, 2015 21:31:55 GMT -8
I had a look at the Arrow Park ferry last fall & I wondered just how many people are served by it. My impression is that that population is tiny but I may be mistaken (anyone know?) Building a new ferry that can carry 24 cars & 50 passengers on this route seems like it would be four times larger than needed. Contrast that with Denman & Hornby Islands getting a 50 car ferry (what is the combined population of those islands, Neil?). We need also to think about how many round trips daily can be made on such a very short route, when comparing to a coastal route like Denman/Hornby. The arrow park should be 30 cars large. The west side of arrow park has a small community and a few summer homes but most of the traffic is logging crews, which can vary between 20-30 work vehicles in the line up in the morning, not including the logging trucks which can number between 3 to 6 depending on where they are going. Currently the ferry has to make 2 trips which takes up alot of time. You might think its overkill being big but the old ferry carries 24 cars currently but the design is stupid and the lanes are tight. You would never know it but there are 2 lanes on each side. The ferry serves the whole west side of arrow lakes. Miles upon miles of roads, hunters, campers, logging etc There is more to it than a few houses. The needles should also be replaced with something that can keep up with the mv columbia
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Post by Wolf on Aug 1, 2015 18:30:36 GMT -8
Alright. Yesterday i spoke with john harding of waterbridge about employment and he said that contracts will be put together this fall sometime and it wont be until february/march of 2016 before plans are drawn up and steel is pre-cut. Waterbridge will be bidding but there are other contestants that will fight for them.
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Post by Nickfro on Aug 20, 2015 10:20:02 GMT -8
Last week, I travelled on business to the Okanagan and Castlegar, taking Hwy 6 from Vernon. Enjoyed my first time on the Needles ferry. It was just before arriving in Needles where I noticed wildfire smoke to the south, which turned out to be Day 1 of the Rock Creek wildfire. This ended up affecting my trip back home to the coast, as Route 3 was closed. I ended up going north to Revelstoke via the Galena Bay ferry instead of going back through the Needles ferry. I encountered a 2 sailing wait at Galena Bay which made me think I made the wrong route decision. Turned out the Needles ferry encountered a 6 hour wait westbound that day, which may be a record lineup for that route. MV Columbia was nice, and with so few foot passengers on that route I understand not having a passenger lounge. It's never a good sight for passengers seeing two ferries idle when 2-3 sailing waits are happening, as the Galena and Shelter Bay were tied up at the Shelter Bay end. . .always raises the question of why can't they be pulled into service, not knowing the big picture of operations, of course.
As someone that does not frequent the Arrow Lakes, I was blown away with the low water level. The thousands of rock sculptures at Galena Bay were entertaining while passing the time there!
Nickfro - long time user - almost absent poster
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Post by Wolf on Aug 20, 2015 15:43:03 GMT -8
Last week, I travelled on business to the Okanagan and Castlegar, taking Hwy 6 from Vernon. Enjoyed my first time on the Needles ferry. It was just before arriving in Needles where I noticed wildfire smoke to the south, which turned out to be Day 1 of the Rock Creek wildfire. This ended up affecting my trip back home to the coast, as Route 3 was closed. I ended up going north to Revelstoke via the Galena Bay ferry instead of going back through the Needles ferry. I encountered a 2 sailing wait at Galena Bay which made me think I made the wrong route decision. Turned out the Needles ferry encountered a 6 hour wait westbound that day, which may be a record lineup for that route. MV Columbia was nice, and with so few foot passengers on that route I understand not having a passenger lounge. It's never a good sight for passengers seeing two ferries idle when 2-3 sailing waits are happening, as the Galena and Shelter Bay were tied up at the Shelter Bay end. . .always raises the question of why can't they be pulled into service, not knowing the big picture of operations, of course. As someone that does not frequent the Arrow Lakes, I was blown away with the low water level. The thousands of rock sculptures at Galena Bay were entertaining while passing the time there! Nickfro - long time user - almost absent posterOne reason they cant use the other ferries is the ramps they built for the columbia are rather tall and the older vessels cannot land on them. They would have to be chained up and pulled into the water each time to land. Also the reason for the mv columbia is to take the older vessels out of service to save on fuel costs while increasing capacity per trip and speed. It would be redundant to operate all 3 at once. They may as well cut up the columbia and put the DEV galena and shelter bay on full time then. But they are on their last legs unless one of them gets a refit As for the sailing wait at needles, you made a better choice going through revy, needles was at least an 11 sailing wait if not more. As i understand it there are more sailing waits at the moment due to another fire shutting down a highway elsewhere
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Post by Low Light Mike on Oct 11, 2015 20:39:59 GMT -8
Here's a new thread to make it easier to find and contribute to discussion and news on the 4 cable ferry newbuilds that will happen for: - Adams Lake - Arrow Park - Harrop - Glade
Once the shipbuilding begins, we can focus any discussion into the existing threads for each of these 4 routes, because they will obviously be 4 different ships, and likely built at different close-to-route sites, on differing timeframes.
But for now, it's simplest to discuss the project here as a group-of-4.
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Post by Wolf on Oct 14, 2015 12:38:01 GMT -8
Last i heard is the contracts arent finalized and we may not know until january or february if they get a contract or not. It is still in RFQ atm to my knowledge.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 5, 2015 17:31:54 GMT -8
I posted this on FB: news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2015TRAN0153-001833“The fact that two B.C. firms have been invited to move onto the next stage of procurement demonstrates the improved strength and capacity of B.C.’s ship-building industry.”....is typical Todd Stone nonsense. Waterbridge waterbridgesteel.com/index.html is a shipbuilder and has built quite a few ships on various beaches in BC, they also run the MV Columbia (which they build ) and the other Arrow Lake ferries, including the Needles Cable Ferry. Western Pacific Marine www.westernpacificmarine.com/, which ran the Needles ferry in the past and still runs the Harrop and Glade Cable Ferries as well as the Osprey 2000 on Kootenay Lake and the service to Lasqueti, is owned by Harbour Cruises Ltd. www.boatcruises.com/, which is NO shipbuilder, but is owned by Graham Clark, the brother of BCF's former CFO. It is a small world in the marine and ferry industry in BC, but why Harbour Cruises would be qualified to design and build ferries is rather mysterious
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Post by Low Light Mike on Nov 5, 2015 17:58:39 GMT -8
Here's the announcement release: from HERE
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Post by Low Light Mike on Nov 5, 2015 18:01:16 GMT -8
I posted this on FB: news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2015TRAN0153-001833“The fact that two B.C. firms have been invited to move onto the next stage of procurement demonstrates the improved strength and capacity of B.C.’s ship-building industry.”....is typical Todd Stone nonsense. Waterbridge waterbridgesteel.com/index.html is a shipbuilder and has built quite a few ships on various beaches in BC, they also run the MV Columbia (which they build ) and the other Arrow Lake ferries, including the Needles Cable Ferry. Western Pacific Marine www.westernpacificmarine.com/, which ran the Needles ferry in the past and still runs the Harrop and Glade Cable Ferries as well as the Osprey 2000 on Kootenay Lake and the service to Lasqueti, is owned by Harbour Cruises Ltd. www.boatcruises.com/, which is NO shipbuilder, but is owned by Graham Clark, the brother of BCF's former CFO. It is a small world in the marine and ferry industry in BC, but why Harbour Cruises would be qualified to design and build ferries is rather mysterious Thanks for the clarification on ownership of Western Pacific Marine and its connection to Mr. Clarke. I've seen comment by others on some Facebook groups that erroneously said that Waterbridge was owned by Mr. Clarke. No, Waterbridge and WesternPacificMarine are not the same company...regardless of what some people want to believe. I hope that Waterbridge gets the 4 contracts.
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Post by Wolf on Nov 5, 2015 19:03:34 GMT -8
I posted this on FB: news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2015TRAN0153-001833“The fact that two B.C. firms have been invited to move onto the next stage of procurement demonstrates the improved strength and capacity of B.C.’s ship-building industry.”....is typical Todd Stone nonsense. Waterbridge waterbridgesteel.com/index.html is a shipbuilder and has built quite a few ships on various beaches in BC, they also run the MV Columbia (which they build ) and the other Arrow Lake ferries, including the Needles Cable Ferry. Western Pacific Marine www.westernpacificmarine.com/, which ran the Needles ferry in the past and still runs the Harrop and Glade Cable Ferries as well as the Osprey 2000 on Kootenay Lake and the service to Lasqueti, is owned by Harbour Cruises Ltd. www.boatcruises.com/, which is NO shipbuilder, but is owned by Graham Clark, the brother of BCF's former CFO. It is a small world in the marine and ferry industry in BC, but why Harbour Cruises would be qualified to design and build ferries is rather mysterious Thanks for the clarification on ownership of Western Pacific Marine and its connection to Mr. Clarke. I've seen comment by others on some Facebook groups that erroneously said that Waterbridge was owned by Mr. Clarke. No, Waterbridge and WesternPacificMarine are not the same company...regardless of what some people want to believe. I hope that Waterbridge gets the 4 contracts. Waterbridge is owned by John Harding, however it is divided into 3 sister companies. Waterbridge steel (the builders) Waterbridge ferries (arrow lakes operator) and Waterbridge equipment (francois lake operator) Just to further clarify. Harding owns them all but are managed by different people As for the date for commencement of construction, i had hoped for better news. It looks like they are dragging it out way too much. These contracts couldve been put forth a year ago and released months ago so construction can start NOW. The jobs are needed here badly.
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Post by Wolf on Feb 25, 2016 17:57:35 GMT -8
Waterbridge has secured the contracts for all 4 vessels, info to be released publicly tomorrow
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Post by Wolf on Feb 29, 2016 12:12:49 GMT -8
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Post by Low Light Mike on Feb 29, 2016 12:48:05 GMT -8
That's great news. Mr. Wolf, thanks for keeping us all in the loop regarding this item. I'm hoping you get work, building these ships. ------------ Here's the text of the article. All 4 of the ships are being built at Nakusp, so there will be some slicing and trucking involved for 3 of the 4 ships.
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Post by Wolf on Feb 29, 2016 16:05:38 GMT -8
"In addition, while the ferries are docked during off-peak hours, power will be supplied by on-board batteries. This will reduce noise at the terminal, and lower the vessels’ greenhouse gas emissions." The Ecolos cable ferry crosses the Ottawa river between Clarence Island and Thurso. The ferry is unique because of its zero emission propulsion system that is energized by batteries which are recharged by the grid power. A battery powered cable ferry... They will all be diesel powered but with electric power when not in use to my knowledge. As for getting work, 30 people is a short list and not having a ticket puts me in a bad position for one of those jobs out of 30. They will have to hire more i think. When the columbia was built, 65 was not enough to get it done which is one of the reasons why it took so long.
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Post by Wolf on Feb 29, 2016 18:13:18 GMT -8
I wonder why they don't use a brake on the bull wheel or just use a dampened mooring system to secure the ferries to the terminal when they are not being used? They do use brakes, but sometimes that doesn't work. There was one time the arrow park broke loose and was carried out to the middle of the lake in a storm when no one was around. They dont moor it to shore because lake levels fluctuate daily. Sometimes it can jump 3 feet overnight
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Post by Wolf on May 5, 2016 16:44:45 GMT -8
Steel has been ordered for the adams lake replacement. They are behind schedule already. Ill keep everyone posted from time to time as i currently work at waterbridge. I have also gotten a sneak peek at the design plans for adams lake. What i can say is it looks very much like the harrop
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Post by Wolf on May 13, 2016 22:10:20 GMT -8
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Post by Wolf on May 15, 2016 17:17:56 GMT -8
Im not sure if the forum is strictly ferries or not but we received plans for a 360' long 100' wide log transporter with 3 engines and props for interfor forest products on arrow lakes, its only in discussion and not even official so i shouldnt be talking about it but if it appeals to interfor for log transport instead of the sutherland towing log booms, it is an open decked vessel with propellors and i have a picture of the designs, if you all want to follow up on this with a new thread if this ship build is green-lit. Up to the admins
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Post by Low Light Mike on May 15, 2016 18:44:34 GMT -8
Im not sure if the forum is strictly ferries or not but we received plans for a 360' long 100' wide log transporter with 3 engines and props for interfor forest products on arrow lakes, its only in discussion and not even official so i shouldnt be talking about it but if it appeals to interfor for log transport instead of the sutherland towing log booms, it is an open decked vessel with propellors and i have a picture of the designs, if you all want to follow up on this with a new thread if this ship build is green-lit. Up to the admins I'm interested. I think this here thread is fine, because there probably won't be too many posts about the log transporter. Here's something Waterbridge built for Williston Lake in north-east BC H E R E------------ And then there's the Babine Charger Babine
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