B.C. ferry shipping 2010 Olympics to England
World's biggest ferry sails up Thames for Vancouver Games
THE TIMES UK
May 13, 2008 11:22
THE world’s largest double-ended ferry arrived in the Pool of London on Monday for a lightning half-day visit on its way back to Canada—all part of a touring Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics promotion.
The huge 500ft-long vessel, Coastal Celebration, passed under Tower Bridge and moored opposite the Tower of London.
It came as an official invitation from the people of Vancouver to Londoners, who are hosting the 2012 Olympics at Stratford, to visit British Columbia for the Winter Games in two years’ time.
Captain Trafford Taylor, of the British Columbia Ferry Corporation, presented the invitation to a London contingent including Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell.
But they weren’t able to go on board, even the minister herself, according to Vancouver 2010 publicists, for logistical reasons.
It was moored in the middle of the Thames and it was difficult to ferry guests to the ferry, as it were.
The vessel, which can carry 1,600 passengers, arrived up the Thames as a giant ‘floating billboard’ wrapped in huge photographic images promoting the 2010 Winter Games and other tourist destinations on Canada’s west coast.
But it didn’t stay long. By 5.30pm it weighed anchor and set sail back down the Thames and out to sea again for its Atlantic crossing, having drawn attention to the 2010 Winter Games.