BC Ferries


British Columbia Ferry Services Inc., operating as BC Ferries, is a former provincial Crown corporation, now operating as an independently managed, publicly owned company. BC Ferries provides all major passenger and vehicle ferry services for coastal and island communities in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Set up in 1960 to provide a similar service to that provided by the Black Ball Line and the Canadian Pacific Railway, which were affected by job action at the time, BC Ferries has become the largest passenger ferry line in North America and the second largest in the world, operating a fleet of 36 vessels with a total passenger and crew capacity of over 27,000, serving 47 locations on the B.C. coast.
As BC Ferries provides an essential link from mainland British Columbia to the various islands, and parts of the mainland without road access, on its routes, it is subsidized by the Government of British Columbia and the Government of Canada. The inland ferries operating on British Columbia's rivers and lakes are not run by BC Ferries. The responsibility for their provision rests with the British Columbia Ministry of Transportation, which contracts operation to various private sector companies.

History

In the summer of 1958, a strike by employees of CP Steamships and the Black Ball Line caused the Social Credit government of W. A. C. Bennett to decide that the coastal ferry service in B.C. needed to be government-owned, and so it set about creating BC Ferries. Minister of Highways Phil Gaglardi was tasked with overseeing the new Crown corporation and its rapid expansion.
BC Ferries' first route, commissioned in 1960, was between Swartz Bay, north of Sidney on Vancouver Island, and Tsawwassen, a part of Delta, using just two vessels. These ships were the now-retired MV Tsawwassen and the MV Sidney. The next few years saw a dramatic growth of the B.C. ferry system as it took over operations of the Black Ball Line and other major private companies providing vehicle ferry service between Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland. As the ferry system expanded and started to service other small coastal communities, BC Ferries had to build more vessels, many of them in the first five years of its operations, to keep up with the demand. Another method of satisfying increasing demand for service was BC Ferries' unique "stretch and lift" program, involving seven vessels being cut in half and extended, and five of those vessels later cut in half again and elevated, to increase their passenger and vehicle-carrying capacities. The vast majority of the vessels in the fleet were built in B.C. waters, with only two foreign purchases and one domestic purchase. In the mid-1980s, BC Ferries took over the operations of the saltwater branch of the B.C. Ministry of Transportation and Highways, which ran ferry services to very small coastal communities. This action dramatically increased the size of BC Ferries' fleet and its geographical service area. The distinctive "dogwood on green" flag that BC Ferries used between 1960 and 2003 gave the service its popular nickname "the Dogwood Fleet".
At its inception, BC Ferries was a division of the British Columbia Toll Highways and Bridges Authority, a provincial Crown corporation. Through successive reorganizations, it evolved into the British Columbia Ferry Authority and then the British Columbia Ferry Corporation, both of which were also provincial Crown corporations. In 2003, the Government of British Columbia announced that BC Ferries, which had been in debt, would be reorganized into a private corporation, implemented through the passage of the Coastal Ferry Act. The single voting share of BC Ferries Corporation is held by the provincial government's BC Ferry Authority, which operates under the rules of the Act.
During the 1990s, the NDP government commissioned a series of three fast ferries to improve ferry service between the Mainland and Vancouver Island. The ships proved problematic when they suffered many technical issues and cost double what was expected. The fast ferries were eventually sold off for $19.4 million in 2003.
A controversy began in July 2004 when BC Ferries, under a new American CEO, announced that the company had disqualified all Canadian bids to build three new Coastal class ships, and only the proposals from European shipyards were being considered. The contract was estimated at $542 million for the three ships, each designed to carry 370 vehicles and 1600 passengers.
The argument for domestic construction of the ferries was that it would employ numerous British Columbia workers, revitalize the sagging B.C. shipbuilding industry, and entitle the provincial government to a large portion of the cost in the form of taxes. BC Ferries CEO David Hahn claimed that building the ferries in Germany would "save almost $80 million and could lead to lower fares."
On September 17, 2004, BC Ferries awarded the vessel construction contract to Germany's Flensburger shipyard. The contract protected BC Ferries from any delays through a fixed price and fixed schedule contract. Coastal Renaissance entered service in March 2008, while Coastal Inspiration was delivered the same month and entered service in June. The third ship, Coastal Celebration, has been delivered and is now in service as well.
On August 18, 2006, BC Ferries commissioned Flensburger to build a new vessel for its Inside Passage route, with the contract having many of the same types of terms as that for the Coastal Class vessels. The new northern service vessel, Northern Expedition, has been delivered.
In fiscal year 2011, BC Ferries reported a loss of $16.5 million due to declining ridership, with vehicle traffic dropping 3.5% and passenger traffic dropping 2.8%. Increased fares were to blame for the drop in ridership, and warnings came that there would likely be cutbacks in the service on a number of its routes in order to reduce costs.
On August 26, 2012, BC Ferries announced that it would be cutting 98 round trips on its major routes starting in the fall and winter of 2012 as part of a four-year plan to save $1 million on these routes. Service cuts have included the elimination of supplementary sailings on the Swartz Bay–Tsawwassen route, 18 round trips on the Horseshoe Bay–Departure Bay route, and 48 round trips, the largest number of cuts, on the Duke Point–Tsawwassen route, with plans to look for savings on the smaller unprofitable routes in the future.
On November 20, 2012, BC Ferry Services was listed as the 90th most profitable company in BC, with a net income of $3,781,000 in 2011 and $3,422,000 in 2010.
A year later, on November 20, 2013, the government of British Columbia announced plans to eliminate a program that gave free ferry trips to seniors, make major cuts to service on smaller, more remote routes, and undertake a pilot project that would introduce slot machines on ships serving the Tsawwassen-Swartz Bay route.
In the fall of 2014, BC Ferries announced the addition of three new Intermediate-class ferries to phase out Queen of Burnaby and Queen of Nanaimo. These three vessels were to be named the Salish Class; Salish Orca, Salish Eagle and Salish Raven. They were designed and built by Remontowa Shipbuilding S.A. in Gdansk, Poland, and are dual-fuel, capable of operating on liquefied natural gas and marine diesel. These vessels are a part of BC Ferries standardized fleet plan, which will take the number of ship class in the BC Ferries fleet from 17 to 5. BC Ferries has stated that total standardization of the BC Ferries fleet will not be complete for another 40 years.

Current routes

Patronage

Route numbers are used internally by BC Ferries. All routes except Route 13 allow vehicles.

Numbers in blue circles are ferry route numbers. Provincial highway trailblazers are added where appropriate.

Fleet

BC Ferries has the largest fleet of vehicle ferry vessels in the world. There are 36 vessels, ranging from small 16-car ferries up to 470-car superferries. All of the vessels in use by BC Ferries are roll-on, roll-off car ferries. Most of the major vessels are based on similar designs, which are aggregated into classes of ferries:

Current vessels

NameClassYear built
Auto capacityPassenger capacityNotesRoutePhoto
MV Island AuroraIsland2017-201947300Hybrid diesel-electric; In service25
MV Island DiscoveryIsland2017-201947300Hybrid diesel-electric; In service18
Spirit1993 3582100*Convert to marine diesel and LNG in 2017 to 2018.1 is an S class ferry|alt=|center|frameless
Spirit1994 3582100*Convert to marine diesel and LNG in 20181
Coastal20073101650World's largest double-ended ferries, Made in Germany2
Coastal20073101650World's largest double-ended ferries, Made in Germany30.|alt=|center|frameless
Coastal20073101650World's largest double-ended ferries, Made in Germany1 docked at Swartz Bay, British Columbia terminal in May 2014.|alt=|center|frameless
C1976 31614702 & 3
C1976 3121494Photo2 & 3
C1976 2801200Upper car deck added in 198430
C1981 30814662
C1981 30814662 & 3
None1964 2541332Originally a V-class ferry when built1
Salish2016138600entered service May 16, 201717
Salish2016138600entered service summer 20179
Salish2016138600entered service on July 27, 20179
None200911560010, 10 Supplemental, 11, 26, & 28
None200487600Purchased in late-2006 to replace the sunken Queen of the North''10, 10 Supplemental, 11, 26, & 28
I1991 100462Auto Capacity increased from 85 in 2015.8
I1992 1124625
I20081124507 & 17
Century1997926004
Powell River1965 59408Stretched in 1979 to increase capacity23
Powell River1965 58400Stretched in 1979 to increase capacity9
Powell River1965 61400Stretched in 1979 to increase capacity9
None1977 44394Transferred to BC Ferries in 198521
None201545150First and only cable ferry owned by BC Ferries.21
Q1982 63400Transferred to BC Ferries in 198519
None1958 38293Purchased in 1969; capacity increased in 1971
Sold in 1977, re-acquired in 1985		18
T1969 26293Transferred to BC Ferries in 198525
T1969 26243Transferred to BC Ferries in 198524
K197219195Transferred to BC Ferries in 198512
K197321200Transferred to BC Ferries in 198522
K197516154Transferred to BC Ferries in 198526
K1985 26269Purchased in 200620
N196016133Transferred to BC Ferries in 1985
Owned by but not operated by BC Ferries		An unnumbered route between Prince Rupert and Port Simpson. This route is operated by the Lax Kw'alaams First Nation community.
N197312125Transferred to BC Ferries in 198528
None200035n/kPurchased in 201728
Nonen/kn/an/kOwned and operated by Kona Winds Yacht Charters Limited, under the sponsorship of and out of the Langdale terminal of BC Ferries.13.
Nonen/kn/an/kOwned and operated by Kona Winds Yacht Charters Limited, under the sponsorship of and out of the Langdale terminal of BC Ferries.13.

Former vessels

In 2019, BC started a $200 million program to acquire four hybrid/electric ferries to service three routes.

Accidents and incidents

The following is a summary of some of the incidents that have occurred involving BC Ferries vessels.

''Queen of Victoria''

On August 2, 1970, the Soviet freighter Sergey Yesenin collided with Queen of Victoria in Active Pass, slicing through the middle of the ferry, days after its return to service following stretching. Three people were killed, and damage was estimated at over $1 million. The Soviet ship did not have permission to be in Active Pass, and as such, the Soviet government compensated BC Ferries.
Years later, while in Active Pass and within metres of the site of the 1970 collision, Queen of Victoria was disabled by a fire in the engine room.

''Queen of Alberni''

On August 9, 1979, Queen of Alberni was transiting through Active Pass when it ran aground on Galiano Island, tipping fifteen degrees to starboard. Several large commercial vehicles on board the vessel at the time were damaged. No persons were injured, but a racehorse on board was killed. This accident suspended all C-class vessels from travelling on Route 1 or any of the southern gulf island routes.
In June 1989, Queen of Alberni collided with the loading dock at Departure Bay, causing significant damage to the ship and dock. Six people were injured, including a cook who suffered a fractured cheekbone as he was walking down a set of stairs.
On March 12, 1992, at 8:08 am, Queen of Alberni collided with the Japanese freighter Shinwa Maru southwest of Tsawwassen. The collision occurred in heavy fog, with both vessels suffering minor damage. Injuries included 2 serious and 25 minor injuries for the 260 people on the ferry, while none of the 11 people aboard the freighter received injuries.

''Queen of Burnaby''

On August 25, 1966, the Queen of Burnaby broke her mooring at Departure Bay terminal while engines were being run in the early morning. The variable-pitch propellers were not left in the neutral position as was standard, and no crew was present on the bridge. The ferry was recovered after the anchor was dropped and the captain was shuttled to the vessel, and all sailing continued with no change of scheduling.

''Queen of Cowichan''

On August 12, 1985, three people were killed when Queen of Cowichan ran over a pleasure boat near the Horseshoe Bay terminal.
On October 19, 2019, a deck hand was seriously injured after being hit by the vessel's bow door which was having trouble opening up at Horseshoe Bay terminal. Its next round trip to Departure Bay and back was subsequently cancelled.

''Queen of Saanich''

On the morning of February 6, 1992, Queen of Saanich and the passenger ship Royal Vancouver collided in heavy fog while navigating near the northern entrance of Active Pass. A total of 23 passengers aboard Royal Vancouver were injured. Blame was cast on the crew of Royal Vancouver for failing to track Queen of Saanich on radar, though both vessels were equipped with sophisticated radar systems.

''Queen of Nanaimo''

On November 2, 2013, Queen of Nanaimo was pushed off course by severe weather as it was leaving the berth at Village Bay, Mayne Island. It damaged a private dock, and no one was injured. There was damage to the ship and all Tsawwassen–Gulf Islands sailings had to be cancelled while it was repaired.

''Queen of New Westminster''

In October 1971, Queen of New Westminster pulled out of its berth at the Departure Bay terminal while vehicle loading was in progress. A car and its two occupants fell into the water. Both of the vehicle's occupants were rescued.
In a similar incident, on August 13, 1992, the Queen of New Westminster pulled out of its berth at the Departure Bay terminal while vehicle loading ramps were still lowered and resting on the ship. Three people were killed, including two children, one was seriously injured, and two others received minor injuries when a van containing 6 people fell from the upper deck onto the lower car deck and finally into the sea below. The van had been stopped and instructed to wait on the loading ramp by terminal crew members. The Transportation Safety Board of Canada determined that the accident was caused by the vessel not properly following departing procedures and secondarily due to poor communication between terminal and ship crew members.

''Mayne Queen''

On November 7, 1995, Mayne Queen departed from Snug Cove and ran into a neighbouring marina, heavily damaging a floating dock in addition to 12 small pleasure boats, one of which sank. The crash was primarily attributed to human error and while transferring steering and power control from one control panel to the other located in the ship. The vessel's captain was also inexperienced with Mayne Queen and normally piloted other vessels. The captain then promptly left the scene of the accident after the incident without conducting a proper damage assessment.
On August 12, 1996, Mayne Queen departed Swartz Bay terminal and ran aground off Piers Island after losing steering control. The grounding occurred while performing a regular weekly test of the batteries for the steering control system. A crew member overheard there was going to be a test, and in an attempt to be helpful, and without direction, cut all power from the vessel's steering batteries, as he had done at night when the ship was stored. However, he did not realize that the test in question only required the removal of a battery charger and that his assistance was neither requested nor required. No one was injured in the incident, and the vessel was assisted off the rocks at high tide, but it suffered extensive damage to its propulsion system, having two of the four steering and propulsion pods for the right-angle drives sheared off and one of the two remaining pods suffering propeller damage.

''Spirit of British Columbia''

On July 27, 2005, a man travelling to Mayne Island missed his ferry, so he got on the Spirit of British Columbia and jumped off as the ferry was approaching Active Pass. The man refused rescue assistance from crew members, and was later banned from travelling with BC Ferries.
On April 27, 2019, the Spirit of British Columbia was damaged while docking at Tsawwassen ferry terminal during heavy winds.

''Spirit of Vancouver Island''

On September 14, 2000, Spirit of Vancouver Island collided with the Star Ruby while attempting to overtake the vessel in a narrow channel. The collision occurred approximately from the Swartz Bay Terminal, from which the ferry had departed. Spirit of Vancouver Island struck Star Ruby on its port side, causing the pleasure craft to flip over and eventually right itself, though swamped and heavily damaged. According to the accident report, the pleasure craft ignored warning blasts from the approaching ferry and made a sharp turn towards the ferry just prior to impact. Two passengers aboard Star Ruby later died as a result of injuries sustained by the collision.
On July 13, 2003, Spirit of Vancouver Island collided with the dock at Swartz Bay. Four passengers suffered minor injuries. The accident caused tens of thousands of dollars of damage to the dock and the ship.
On October 9, 2009, a standby generator on Spirit of Vancouver Island caught fire on an early morning sailing out of Swartz Bay Terminal. No one was injured in the incident, but it caused major delays in the ferry system because of the already large volume of traffic for Thanksgiving weekend. Eight sailings were cancelled that day, and the ship remained out of service for the weekend.
On August 31, 2018, two workers were injured during an early morning safety drill where the ship's davit malfunctioned, causing the rescue boat they were in to flip and send the workers into the water from a significant height. Four sailings were cancelled as a result.
On April 18, 2020, the vessel suffered a hard landing at Tsawwassen ferry terminal at the conclusion of its 3:00pm sailing from Swartz Bay. Vehicles were stuck onboard until 8:30 due to damage on the ramp.

''Queen of Surrey''

On May 12, 2003, Queen of Surrey was disabled as a result of an engine room fire. Queen of Capilano was dispatched and tethered to Queen of Surrey while tugboats were dispatched. The vessel was then towed back to shore. None of the 318 passengers were injured, but several crew members were treated for minor injuries. Some buckling of the main car deck resulted from the heat of the fire, but no vehicles were damaged in the incident.
On March 26, 2019, the 7:30AM sailing from Horseshoe Bay of the Queen of Surrey had an incident while docking at Gibsons at 8:10AM. The ship collided with a terminal structure and damaged its leading end. The bow of the ferry subsequently became lodged on the structure, causing severe delays, with all following vehicle sailings that day cancelled until the late evening when relief could be provided. Passenger service was offered by water taxi for walk-in passengers.

''Queen of Oak Bay''

On June 30, 2005, at about 10:10 a.m., the vessel Queen of Oak Bay, on the Nanaimo–Horseshoe Bay ferry route, lost power four minutes before it was to dock at the Horseshoe Bay terminal. The vessel became adrift, unable to change speed but able to steer with the rudders. The horn was blown steadily, and an announcement telling passengers to brace for impact was made minutes before the ship slowly ran into the nearby Sewell's Marina, where it destroyed or damaged 28 pleasure crafts and subsequently went aground a short distance from the shore. No casualties or injuries were reported.
On July 1, 2005, BC Ferries issued a statement that Transport Canada, the Transportation Safety Board, and Lloyd's Register of Shipping were reviewing the control and mechanical systems on board to find a fault. An inspection revealed minimal damage to the ship, with only some minor damage to a metal fender, paint scrapes to the rudder, and some minor scrapes to one blade of a propeller.
On July 7, BC Ferries concluded that a missing cotter pin was to blame. The pin normally retained a nut on a linkage between an engine speed governor and the fuel control for one of the engines. Without the pin, the nut fell off and the linkage separated, causing the engine, clutches, and propellers to increase in speed until overspeed safety devices activated and shut down the entire propulsion system. The faulty speed governor had been serviced 17 days before the incident during a $35-million upgrade, and the cotter pin had not been properly replaced at that time.
Queen of Oak Bay was quickly repaired and tested at sea trials. She returned to regular service on July 8. A complete investigation report consisting of a 14-page Divisional Inquiry and a 28-page Engineering Incident Investigation was released in September 2006.
The Transportation Safety Board's Marine Investigation Report, released on September 6, 2007, indicated that "inadequacies in BC Ferries' procedures on safety-critical maintenance tasks and on ship handling during berthing operations" were major contributing factors to the accident. It appears that insufficient oversight of work done by contractors also played a role in the accident.

''Queen of the North''

On March 22, 2006, Queen of the North sank south of Prince Rupert, British Columbia, when it struck Gil Island at approximately 1:00 a.m. Two people from 100 Mile House went missing. BC Ferries CEO David Hahn said, "There is a real possibility that they went down with the ship." It is unlikely that it will be possible to salvage Queen of the North.
Officials have determined the cause of the accident was human error by three BC Ferries employees neglecting their navigational duties. Charges of criminal negligence causing death were considered, and a class action lawsuit for the passengers is proceeding while the Ferry and Marine Union seeks to reinstate the fired crew who failed to provide information to the $1 million TSB enquiry.

''Quinsam''

On January 9, 2007, Quinsam was loading traffic from Nanaimo to Gabriola Island when it unexpectedly pulled out of its berth. A pickup truck on the boarding ramp plunged into the water below. Ferry workers were able to warn the truck's lone occupant, who was able to escape before the vehicle fell.

''Coastal Inspiration''

On December 20, 2011, at 14:50, Coastal Inspiration crashed into the Duke Point terminal, causing minor injuries to one passenger and crew member. The collision damaged the loading ramp, and foot passengers were held up for an hour before being unloaded; the vessel was rerouted to Departure Bay to unload its vehicle traffic. An electrical component failure in the propulsion control system was blamed for the crash. The ferry was taken out of service for repairs before resuming service on January 20, 2012. The damage caused the Duke Point terminal to be closed for five months, resulting in all services from Tsawwassen to be rerouted into Departure Bay. The terminal reopened for service on May 1, 2012.

''Coastal Celebration''

On May 5, 2011, Coastal Celebration damaged the dock at Swartz Bay after the vessel reversed into it for roughly. An investigation found that this was due to an error on the bridge. No one was hurt in the incident. However, damage to Coastal Celebration and the berth at Swartz Bay cost CAN$470,000.
On November 4, 2015, while the ship was sailing from Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay, a man launched one of Coastal Celebrations 100-person life rafts and jumped overboard. The man then swam to Galiano Island while the ferry recovered the life raft and launched rescue craft to recover the man. The man was later arrested on the island.
On December 17, 2018, the Coastal Celebration rescued a man from a sinking vessel near Moresby Passage in dark and stormy conditions. All remaining sailings from Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay were cancelled that night.

In film

FilmYearVessel or Class
Five Easy Pieces1970Mill Bay
Food of the Gods1976Howe Sound Queen
The Other Side of the Mountain1978Queen of Victoria
Shoot To Kill1988Queen of Vancouver
Bird On A Wire1990Queen of Burnaby or Queen of Nanaimo
Another Stakeout1993Powell River Class
Mr. Magoo1997Queen of Esquimalt
Disturbing Behavior1998Queen of Capilano
Double Jeopardy1999Quadra Queen II
Black Point2002Mill Bay
Scary Movie 32003Powell River Class
Battlestar Galactica miniseries2003V-Class
Walking Tall2004Albert J Savoie
Elektra2005Albert J Savoie
The Mermaid Chair2006Mill Bay
The Suite Life Movie2011Northern Expedition
The Killing2012Queen of Capilano

Shipyards