The BC Ferry Corporation has taken delivery of three of
it's newest ferries. This should be a happy time. But why is the
going off!! Why indeed? Here you will
find out.
Lets put our thinking caps on and try and figure it all out.
The new ferries are called COASTAL RENAISSANCE, COASTAL
INSPIRATION and COASTAL CELEBRATION. Now why would they call
them those odd names? You see in British Columbia there is a long
heritage of using Queen names, i.e the QUEEN OF OAK BAY, QUEEN OF
NANAIMO, QUEEN OF ESQUIMALT. But apparently they quietly took down
the portraits of the Queen when ships entered refit and the Queen
designation suddenly disappeared from the new ship names. True after a public outcry
they put them back but they showed their spots so to speak and it wasn't
pretty. No QUEEN OF QUESNEL or PRINCESS of FERNIE for BC'ers. Better crank up those thinking caps. I smell a rat!
All the BC ferries to date have been made in British Columbia
by good hard working, taxpaying Canadians. That way a lot of the tax
dollars got sucked back into the Provincial Treasury. And when we make
things here the money stays in Canada and is leveraged into other
supporting businesses. But where are these new ships
made? Germany! Isn't that odd? Why would BC Ferries go to Germany to get
a ferry built when they could build them in BC or perhaps in an Eastern
Province or down in the good ole USA. We do build ships in Canada do we not? We
are smart enough to build ships aren't we? We did have the third
largest navy in the world at one time back when Canada had a
population one third of what it has today. So what happened?
I have nothing against Germany. I have visited
there and I have purchased German cars and other manufactured items
and have been very happy with the quality. I love German food and I
recognize that Germany is one of the leading countries in the world
for manufactured goods. My point here is that shipbuilding is a basic
industry and Canada has one of the largest coastlines in the world and
I think we should be able to manufacture our own ships. Now back to BC
Ferries...
Who is in charge of BC Ferries? Why its Mr. David Hahn.
Who is in charge of Human Resources and Corporate Development -why its
Mr. Glen N. Schwartz. Now if one was to look up the racial origin
of both Hahn and Schwartz one would discover that both
names are of German origin. Interesting. It may be just a
co-incidence that the decision was made to buy German built
ships rather than Canadian built ships. This is simply a
"coincidence" -there is no connection between the two
facts. You decide.
The ships are the largest double end ferries in the world.
This means that they can go both ways something that apparently is quite
important in British Columbia. The significance of this may be lost on
the average reader who is likely a landlubber and knows dick about
vessels. You see there is a problem going both ways and its not what you
might think. Whatever that might be. And the thought should cross
your mind WHY are these the largest of their type? Did ALL the other
countries realize there was no point to it. Hmmmmm.
Pretend you are on a ship.(close your eyes if
necessary) Point your snout in the same
direction the ships bow is pointing. Both of you are now pointing in the
same direction. Now lift up your right arm and point 90 degrees to the
right of your nose. You are pointing to your Starboard side. Now you can
do the same thing with your left arm. Lift the sucker up and point 90
degrees to your left and you are pointing to your Port side. The concept
of Port and Starboard is absolutely essential to ship handling. Make a
mistake and you run the risk of death and injury.
The Port side of a vessel will have a port running light on it
for night time use and a port running light is red. The opposite side
the Starboard side will have a starboard running light which is green.
The aft end (the bum) of the ship will have a white overtaking
light. Have you got this all memorized? Ohhh aren't you
the smart one!
Now, what happens when you "go the other way"
Everything reverses! Your port side becomes your starboard side. The red
light becomes a green light and so on. And the human brain is completely
befuddled. You loose your position with regard to the ship's
position. You become disoriented. You become stupid. Or stupider.
Critical vessel design features which provide cues to the
mariner are lost when for example the funnel no longer slopes away from
the front but instead slopes both ways in a type of pyramid structure
with the top knocked off. Is she coming or going? Who knows? Its just
another mystery that the mariner needs to solve when approaching one of
these new ferries.
Traditionally, one of the toughest parts of a ship is her bow.
In a bad blow at sea you would normally place the bow of the ship into
the oncoming waves. In the case of these ferries each end of the ship
will now have a huge doorway built into it which can't help but
compromise the strength of the bow(s). I note that in order to safely
take the first ferry from Germany they closed off one end with a fake
bow which they will remove and place on the second and then third ferry.
Some of you might be a bit concerned by this. I am. Some of you won't
understand the problem. It can get pretty messy out on the Pacific Coast
even in so called "protected waters".
Lets consider a well designed well built ferry that has been
operating successfully and profitably in BC waters for generations the COHO
owned by Black Ball Ferries of Port Angeles Washington.
The COHO was built in 1959 in Seattle Washington by Americans. Notice
that there are only 4 letters in her name and it is easy to spell. The
COASTAL
RENAISSANCE has 18 in her name and will be impossible to spell for
thousands because quick now how do you spell Renaissance? Not
surprisingly the other two ships will also have 18 letters in their
names for some inconceivably stupid reason. Imagine the wasted
effort in typing that foolishly long name a few million times. I have
traveled on the COHO several times. She is a good ship. Nothing fancy
but typical American construction and engineering. Everything is pretty
simple and solid and easy to maintain. Americans know how to build
quality ships and have been doing it for generations. The food they
serve is pretty basic -hot dog, cheese nachos, stickey buns, apples and
ham and cheese sandwiches. They have a pretty good chili. Its all affordable not cheap
but not that expensive either for a ship -and so you receive good value
for your money another typically American trait.
Now you will
notice the big door on the portside of the COHO just ahead of the
Bridge. There is one on the Starboard side too. And there is another big
door at the stern for exiting the vessel. So a ferry like this takes on
vehicles on either side and lets them off from the stern. This calls for
an always interesting evolution from the Captain who swings the ship
around at the dock and backs in. Its fun to watch and a great display of
ship handling and seamanship.
Now lets look at the COASTAL RENAISSANCE. My first
question to you is a quick one. Which way is she going? QUICK NOW!
When I first started this website I was a bit worried that
maybe it was me that was at fault. Maybe I was being too critical. Too
much of a nag. Maybe I was getting to be a grumpy old man. I am
retired and approaching 61. It would fit. When I look in the mirror now
I see this fat old sort of stupid guy looking back at me. I don't
know who he is but he looks familiar! But then I realized
that hell no, I was actually right! There is just a huge amount of
bullshit in Canada - it's knee deep in some places and everywhere I
looked I found more. But I digress. Lets get back to the BC Ferries that
go both ways.
I hate to do this but I need to explain how a ferry works. I
snuck some details in when I told you about the COHO and how it took on
cars and let them off and such by swinging around and backing into the dock.
I know you have half of the equation figured out already. I mean the
cars get on so they need to get off right? After I tell you the rest if you understand it you are just going to be
pissed off. But don't blame me. I am merely the messenger eh!
Ok a "regular" BC ferry takes passengers on from the
stern and lets them off from the bow. So they need to swing ship and
back in to take on cars and then the clever devils reverse the process
and take on cars from the bow and let them off from the stern having to
swing ship again at the other end to do so. Think it over. Draw some
diagrams. You will understand it. Its not hard. Just think it
over.
Enter the new BC ferries. These rascals as I have already said
go both ways. So they drive into the dock and cars drive onboard. Then
they go the other way. That is they just head off backwards so to speak
except that the back is now the front. When they get to the other end
they unload the vehicles without having to swing ship and then they
switch directions again. From one point of view it is absolutely
brilliant in that the vessel no longer needs to turn around to load or
unload vehicles. It can spend more time at sea making the passage and
less time at the dock. And that's the point of view that BC Ferries took.
They figured they would save a nickel. From
another point of view it is pure disaster and that's the point of view I
am taking. ( I actually did work as a professional mariner once). I am
also pointing out that there is an inverse relationship between
the length of the ferry trip and the time advantage savings of going
both ways. You would need to think about this. Its just simple math. In
the case of where these ferries will operate its not going to make a
heck of a pile of difference at least not enough to justify the cost.
Nobody is onto this yet so I won't press the point -let some wise acre
discover it and then think he is a genius. Its grade five math
folks. The
question is who is on first. No No that's not it the question is who is
right? Is it me the dumb fat retired guy or the BC Ferry people -the
same ones that squandered hundreds of millions from our treasury on the three fat cats - I mean
aluminum catamarans.
The double ended Ferry is not a new idea. They have been
around for many years. There are some wrinkles in the propulsion systems
though. I checked out the photos of the construction of the COASTAL RENAISSANCE
and was basically horrified at the underwater profile. I won't pretend
to be a Naval Architect. It just seemed to me that she sure doesn't look
all that stable. And it doesn't look to me like that prop is too well
protected from the numerous logs and deadheads in Pacific waters. In
the USA the coast guard does stability tests on new vessels and I sure
hope that our Coast Guard does the same. And then there won't be any
nagging doubts. But what do I know so you can ignore that comment. Just keep it stored
away should you need to take the vessel on a stormy day when she has a
full load and her center of gravity is creeping up. I'll watch from
shore. Its better for the digestion that you are not aware of the
significance of a centre of gravity so I won't go into that. I
should also mention the pivot point but out of meanness I won't.
Germans love complicated mechanical things. Its in
their nature. They have a large workforce of exceptionally well trained
technical people to design, build and maintain their creations. Unfortunately,
we do not have that employee base in Canada. We can't even make our own
machine tools for god's sakes and depend on other developed nations
much like a third world country for all of our technology. In fact as previously
mentioned apparently the 33 million of us are too stupid to build a
ferry boat. So its going to be interesting to watch and see how our
Canuck workers will maintain these fine examples of German
engineering. Most German vehicles are great if you carry a German
Mechanic around with you in the trunk. I owned several of them (the
cars that is) Perhaps its better with
vessels.
The BC Ferries has basically a hideous reputation for new
ferry construction. The Fast Cats were the biggest waste of money
in Canadian marine history and it all happened in BC. Now they are
taking a second run at it. I won't pretend to be an expert in Ferry
management. But lets look at the American COHO. Simple functional
design, grey and white simple paintjob, seaworthy, been in service since
1959 so the maintenance must have been pretty good, they make a profit
and they keep their costs and fares low. What is wrong with this
picture? BC Ferries -floating top heavy gin palaces, loaded with uppity restaurants
and lounges and boutiques running in debt with very high operating costs and very high fares
and lots of high priced help pulling down big wages to administer the
corporation. Million dollar paint and graphics paint jobs. Its not a cruise
liner folks its just a ferry boat. And now we have German made ferry
boats that go both ways! Only in BC.
Oh the Corporate Secretary Miss Farsea had a suggestion for
re-naming the three ferries. TIRPITZ, SCHARNHORST AND BISMARK.
She said our Canadian Naval vets would appreciate that. Thanks Marcie I
will pass it on!
Ok so now it is time for you to express your
opinion so here goes with our online survey on shipbuilding in
Canada.
Free Website Poll
