New ferries will keep status quo, but leave little room to grow!

While everyone on the North Coast are no doubt thankful that the BC Ferry Corporation is finally making the necessary moves to replace the sunken Queen of the North and the aging Queen of Prince Rupert, the new plan for the replacement vessels is not being greeted as a very forward thinking option for long term growth.

The Daily News on Monday had the local reaction to the announcement Friday, of changes soon to come to the Northern Fleet. And some concerns are currently being raised about possible limitations on how they may grow the business in the North over the years.

Of even more interest in the article though, is the story around the replacement vessel for the Queen of the North, which as recently as this morning on the Bill Good program on CKNW (check out the audio vault from 9-10 am Monday, for the background story on the Ferry plans) was still slated to be the Sonia, currently plying the waters of coastal Spain.

If the wording in the Daily News story is correct, then that plan has changed from the one annoucned on Friday. There hasn’t been much said about a procurement of a second north coast vessel from scratch as is suggested in the Monday article. The back up plan that David Hahn put forward on the Bill Good show today, was a plan to charter a vessel to tide the company over until a second ferry would be built. Regardless, he stressed there would be a new ferry on the north coast by early next year.

But as we say, at 10 am this morning the plan to purchase the Sonia was still the preferred model that BC ferries planned to follow. Perhaps the Daily has mis-interpreted Hahn’s remarks and we will see a clarification in the days to come, or maybe something strange happened to a supposedly done deal in the last 10 hours or so.

If that is the case, and we are looking at yet another change to the Northern plan it will result in all sorts of questions about tourism and transportation needs, especially if we have to wait for two ferries to be built from the keel up.


FERRY PLANS TO CAUSE FUTURE GROWING PAINS
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Monday, August 21, 2006
Page One

The replacement for the Queen of Prince Rupert is expected to offer travelers a better experience, but there will be little room for any additional tourists on the new fleet.

On Friday, B. C. Ferries announced it had awarded Flensburger Schiffbau, a German company; the $133 million contract to replace the aging Queen of Prince Rupert and said it expects to announce the contract to build a replacement for the Queen of the North in the next six months.

Steve Smith, chair of the North and Mid Coast Ferries Advisory Committee, said the vessel are being replaced with ferries of similar capacity which doesn’t give tourism along the circle route –from Port Hardy to Prince Rupert and back down through Prince George – a lot of room to grow.


“The only way to grow traffic in the corridor is to increase the frequency or give us lift-off capacity,” said Smith.

Tourism and hospitality operators in the region have been asking for more capacity, or daily ferry service to and from the south coast in the busy summer months, for years.

Additional capacity would allow businesses all along the route to grow, said Smith, and meet the Premier’s challenge of doubling tourism visitors to the province by 2010.

The first new vessel announced will have room for 600 passengers, 130 vehicles and 55 state rooms, only a slight increase from the existing Queen of Prince Rupert.

On the positive side, Smith said the new vessels will enhance the visitor experience and hopefully attract more people in the spring and fall when the ferry has not traditionally been full.

“This will give us a modern ship, with modern amenities and the experience that goes along with it,” he said.

“It should be nicer, with more activities and more comforts like rooms people can rent. Those are important.”

With the aging population, there’s a big demand for comfort he said and if the ferries don’t meet those standards, people may go elsewhere, perhaps not even within B. C.

North Coast MLA Gary Coons said he is also concerned the specifications given to the company won’t meet the future needs of the region.

“I questioned the minister who is responsible for ferries about ensuring any new vessels meet the expanding needs of northern communities. With the port development and tourism growth, they will have to meet the future demands, not just the current demands.”

He’s also disappointed the vessels are not being built in B. C.

“The concern from the Washington Marine Group was the timeline to bid. Although I know we need new vessels as soon as possible, they should have been allowed a feasible amount of time to bid on the vessels instead of shifting our tax dollars to foreign corporations.

“The whole scenario comes back to government. The Northern Service Plan was presented to government in 2004 and no action was taken by the minister until the day the ferry sank.”

The Northern Service Plan outlines the need for replacement vessels and the desire of the communities.

“I hope the vessels will meet the future needs and demands of our region and government steps in revamps the Coastal Ferry Act so the public interest is being looked after.”

Under the Coastal Ferry Act, it is likely at least some of the cost of the new vessels will be passed on to users, he said.

“No one right now is looking after the needs of coastal communities.”