From the Province:
Final voyage from B.C. for fast ferries
By Frank Luba, The Province
August 19, 2009 7:01 PM
Anyone who wants to say farewell to one of B.C.’s infamous fast ferries should head for
Deep Cove in North Vancouver Saturday morning.
The first of the three PacifiCats bought by Abu Dhabi Mar, a United Arab Emirates company that builds yachts and remodels vessels, will be brought to Deep Cove for loading onto a heavy-lift vessel for transport across the Pacific Ocean to Abu Dhabi.
John Mears’ Pacific Northwest Ship and Cargo Services is acting as agent for Dockwise Yacht Transport, which arranged to transport the “fast cat” on the cargo ship Swift for Abu Dhabi Mar.
“We’re just loading it,” said Mears, who lives in Deep Cove and has previously used the scenic harbor to load yachts for transport.
“We need flat, flat water because those cats are very buoyant,” Mears explained.
The Swift, which has a dead weight tonnage (or cargo capacity) of 32,600 tonnes,
will first take on water and sink deep enough for the 1,500-tonne catamaran to float aboard. Mears said that it’s crucial there be no movement under the vessels as the cat is brought aboard the Swift.
The water will then be pumped out and the PacifiCat secured, much as it would be in a drydock. Mears said there would be two to three metres between the end of the ferry and the Swift’s structure.
The heavy-lift ship has hauled longer vessels, carrying them at an angle, he said.
The process will begin at about 9 a.m. and the ferry should be loaded by about 1 p.m. The move will be visible from shore, but the best view can be had from Quarry Rock, a lookout point on the Baden-Powell Trail about an hour’s hike from Deep Cove.
The fast ferries were built by B.C.’s then-NDP government at a budgeted cost of $210 million and an eventual cost of $450 million. They contributed to the collapse of then-premier Glen Clark’s political career and helped sink the provincial hopes of his his successor, Ujjal Dosanjh.
Gordon Campbell and his Liberals swept to power in the wake of the PacifiCat mess. They mothballed the ships before putting them up for auction, with the Washington Marine Group paying just $19.8 million for the vessels they had been a major partner in building.
The remaining two ferries will be sent to Abu Dhabi in the fall aboard the Swift and its sister vessel.
fluba@theprovince.com
© Copyright (c) The Province