BC Ferries has a fleet of over 30 ferries servicing the Lower Mainland, Vancouver Island and many smaller ports of call, but until now have not used a cable ferry to move cargo and passengers to and from Buckley Bay and Denman Island in British Columbia.

Recently BC Ferries and Seaspan Shipyards marked the start of construction of the cable ferry with an announcement at the Seaspan facility in North Vancouver. The Journal of Commerce spoke to BC Ferries vice-president of engineering Mark Wilson about the challenges and advantages of using a cable ferry.

Wilson said the main reason to go with a cable ferry is the cost-effective nature of both production and operation of the vessel. He also described the cable system as “something like a flexible railway track.”

Wilson also said that before building the vessel, the company undertook extensive software modeling of not only the craft but also possible conditions it would encounter.

Completion of the terminal buildings is scheduled for the end of 2014, with the ferry system in place by summer 2015.

JOC DIGITAL MEDIA

свернуть