BC Ferries is planning to add seven new boats to its fleet –– six of those to replace retiring vessels –– which BCF CEO Nicolas Jimenez says will alleviate stress for the Sunshine Coast, but he wouldn’t at this point commit to a second boat for Route 3 (Langdale-Horseshoe Bay).
The proposal
BC Ferries issued a request for proposals (RFP) to qualified shipyards this week as it looks to order an initial five diesel-electric hybrid vessels, with the first delivered in 2029 and phased in every six months following that. They are to replace retiring vessels, including the Queen of Alberni in October 2029, Queen of Coquitlam in September 2030, the Queen of New Westminster in October 2030 and the Queen of Cowichan in October 2031.
Also announced were plans to upgrade the Queen of Oak Bay and Queen of Surrey to extend their lives while waiting for the project’s second phase.
Each major vessel will be able to carry 2,100 passengers and crew, plus 360 standard-sized vehicles, similar to the two Spirit-class vessels now in service. (The current C-class boats, which include Queens of Coquitlam, Cowichan, Oak Bay, Alberni and Surrey, carry 250 to 310 vehicles and 1,200 to 1,500 passengers.)
BCF said it aims to award contracts for the final two boats in 2033 with delivery by 2037.
Adopting a phased strategy for shipbuilding will allow the company to minimize fare pressure for customers and refine the final two vessels based on insights from the initial builds and operational performance, Jimenez said in a press release.
New major vessels have been designed in consultation with LMG Marin, a naval architecture and ship design firm.
Following their upgrades, BCF anticipates the Queen of Surrey and Queen of Oak Bay would retire after 2035.
Bigger boats
Asked if the Coast will get one of the new boats, Jimenez said “likely no,” adding, “But you’re going to get bigger ferries by virtue of the dance that we will have in moving other ferries that are currently servicing…Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay and Tsawwassen to Duke Point.”
The new boats will allow BCF to move vessels around the fleet “to make sure that capacity goes where capacity is needed,” he said.
As for what ship will be where in 2029 –– Jimenez said it’s a little too early to tell.
Asked if this means the lower Sunshine Coast is getting a second boat, Jimenez said, “No, those are different decisions.”
“I know very, very well that the community is very keen to see permanent, two-ship service. That’s not an announcement we can make today. That’s not a decision we can make today,” said Jimenez. The announcement is about replacing the six “C class” vessels with seven ships over two phases. “The additional ship will essentially allow us to sort of plan the needs of the system a little bit better.”
“There will be bigger ships, carrying more vehicles and more passengers on the Sunshine Coast, Horseshoe Bay route.”
BCF has done capacity modelling up to 25 years out, said Jimenez. “There’s a lot of growth planned, and not just in the Sunshine Coast community, but coastal communities right up and down the coast,” he said. “This investment in additional capacity will definitely bring relief to the system in the very near term, in sort of a one to 15-year timeframe.”
This investment means a net gain of one boat, said Jimenez, and the first boat arriving in 2029 would be the “new” boat added to the system.
In a followup statement, BC Ferries said with all five new major vessels in place, the organization anticipates being able to increase capacity up to 24 per cent on the busiest routes: between Metro Vancouver, Vancouver Island, and the Sunshine Coast.
He also added that other vessels will be retiring in the 2030s, and the fleet will be in a “constant state of renewal” as they weigh system needs with available vessels.
When will they be electric?
The hybrid vessels will be designed to be ready to convert to an all-battery form of propulsion, said Jimenez. “So we've created spaces in the design for battery banks, we've got spaces where we could accommodate charging infrastructure on the vessel, those kinds of things.”
But the corporation still needs to work with BC Hydro on energy matters – such as getting the energy required to terminals, a feat that’s very different in Tsawwassen and Horseshoe Bay, not to mention the smaller terminals. Then there’s working with equipment manufacturers on charging infrastructure and looking at terminal design –– all things not currently funded in the capital plan. “But we think they're important enough investments that we would expect over time.”
“These [ferries] are 50-plus-year investments. So if we don't have it day one, I feel pretty good that we've got some time to sort of bring it along,” said Jimenez.
The vessels also wouldn’t all need to be electrified at the same time. “I think what we would do is we'd look for the easiest terminal to electrify first, and then go from there,” he said. “We'll find where this is possible. We'll walk before we can run. We'll make some initial investments before we take it to a broader array of terminals”
“But the key thing is being ready,” said Jimenez. “If you don't build these ships with that capability, you're going to imperil your ability to do that in the long run.”
Commissioner approval
The RFP is out to 20-or-so shipyards around the world at the moment. When BC Ferries receives bids back, they’ll have a better sense of what the program will cost.
“We have an expectation of what it’s going to look like, but until you go to market, you don’t actually know,” said Jimenez.
At that point, BCF will put in an application with the BC Ferry Commissioner, and if that’s successful, would expect to award contracts next spring.
This is expected to be the company’s largest vessel expenditure in its history. In 2018, when B.C. Ferries initially announced plans to order five major vessels, the cost was estimated to be $700 million to $1 billion. That building project was sidelined by the pandemic.
– With files from Carla Wilson, Times Colonist
