521 replies to this topic

[Victoria Watcher]

The 800 P & O Ferry staff that were fired in the UK were replaced with international workers earning £ 5.15 to 6 per hour.

UK minimum wage is £ 8.91.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 24 March 2022 - 03:23 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

Direct sailings between Victoria and Seattle are slated to resume next month.

FRS Clipper says the Victoria Clipper high-speed catamaran ferry will resume daily sailings between downtown Victoria and downtown Seattle starting on April 15.

https://www.cheknews...t-month-998757/

That’s good news. Probably more important than the cruise ships. If you look at the economics per passenger.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 30 March 2022 - 04:57 PM.

[Victoria Watcher]

The Victoria Clipper V is expected to sail into Victoria’s Inner Harbour Friday for the first time since it had to cancel its short-lived fall schedule due to low ridership.

 

With testing requirements at the border now a thing of the past, the Clipper will once again start ferrying passengers between Victoria and Seattle on Friday, with the first vessel from Seattle set to arrive in Victoria at 10:45 a.m.

 

 

https://www.timescol...-friday-5269116

[Victoria Watcher]

Clipper:

Meis said travel demand in the U.S. especially is stronger than expected, and this first sailing of the season was limited to 230 passengers due to available staff. The hope is they will be able to have full sailings in the next few weeks.

[Victoria Watcher]

Victoria man tests the waters for an Oak Bay Marina passenger ferry

 

Resident of 25 years wants more and faster connections to Vancouver, Gulf Islands, U.S.

 

https://www.vicnews....assenger-ferry/

 

Alternatively, he estimated a sailing from Oak Bay Marina to Roche Harbour on the San Juan Islands would take 40 minutes.

 

“The benefit of Oak Bay is it’s not so far out that there aren’t already some transit connections,” Guerrero continued, saying these wouldn’t have to be particularly large ferries and a light rail transit or streetcar service along Oak Bay Avenue could increase access to Turkey Head.

 

He suggested the former V2V Empress passenger ferry, which ran three-and-a-half-hour trips between the Inner Harbour and Vancouver for two years, may have had more success if it launched from Oak Bay Marina and reached Vancouver in three hours or less. He also noted that a service to Bellingham would additionally connect passengers to low-cost regional flights at its international airport. Another option he put forward was water taxis running from the marina to Cadboro Bay.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 18 August 2022 - 07:16 AM.

[Nparker]

I think G-man might get a rough ride trying to sell this idea to the residents of Oak Bay.

[Mike K.]

I suspect V2V would have made more sense from Swartz Bay.

It’s a mystery why BC Ferries has a taxpayer subsidized monopoly on its billions of dollars of terminals.

[Victoria Watcher]

Ryan Burles, president of Black Ball Ferry Line, which operates the Coho car ferry between Victoria and Port Angeles, said it’s a huge step as the company has seen a lot of travellers anxious about using the ArriveCan app.

 

He said if travellers who actually show up are feeling anxious about using the app incorrectly, how many travellers have simply not bothered to take the trip? “So this is great for our customers as it takes down another barrier and there’s one less thing to go through.”

 

Burles expects they could start seeing an impact immediately, based on the number of people who have wanted to travel but couldn’t because of restrictions. But he said it’s also likely to take some time for the news to get out and for people to feel comfortable again.

 

The Coho’s foot passenger traffic and day-tripper traffic is still only about 65 per cent of where it was pre-pandemic.

 

 

https://www.timescol...ictions-5874698

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 27 September 2022 - 05:09 AM.

[lanforod]

There are still vaccine requirements for travelling TO the US, so dasmo still can't go.

[Barrrister]

Does that include American citizens returning to the US?

[lanforod]

Probably not but i'm not US CBP.

[JohnsonStBridge]

Vaccination requirements do not apply to US citizens, nationals, or lawful permanent residents returning to the US. For what it is worth, when I travelled the Coho in the summer US Customs and Border Protection did not request proof of vaccination nor ask me to verbally attest to my vaccination status. The border agent did give a thumbs up to another traveler wearing a Make America Great Again hat.

[LJ]

There are still vaccine requirements for travelling TO the US, so dasmo still can't go.

Only if flying into the US.

[lanforod]

Only if flying into the US.

 

Not true. https://www.dhs.gov/...velers-enter-us

But like JSB - they aren't checking/enforcing it much. 

[Victoria Watcher]

The foot-passenger-only ferry service is slated to start in summer 2023 with terminals at the Port of Nanaimo’s cruise ship terminal and the Vancouver Harbour Flight Centre in downtown Vancouver.

Two high-speed catamaran vessels are being built by the Netherland’s Damen Group and will each hold more than 350 passengers in three classes of seating, referred to as business, premium and comfort class. Fares haven’t been announced, but the company says the price points will be “family friendly.”

Sailing schedules are also yet to be determined. Alastair Caddick, the company’s CEO, said sailings will be early enough for commuters and late enough to come home after sporting events or concerts, for example.

https://www.vicnews....rt-next-summer/


^ Nanaimo - Vancouver

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 10 November 2022 - 02:04 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

The foot-passenger-only ferry service is slated to start in summer 2023 with terminals at the Port of Nanaimo’s cruise ship terminal and the Vancouver Harbour Flight Centre in downtown Vancouver.

Two high-speed catamaran vessels are being built by the Netherland’s Damen Group and will each hold more than 350 passengers in three classes of seating, referred to as business, premium and comfort class. Fares haven’t been announced, but the company says the price points will be “family friendly.”

Sailing schedules are also yet to be determined. Alastair Caddick, the company’s CEO, said sailings will be early enough for commuters and late enough to come home after sporting events or concerts, for example.

https://www.vicnews....rt-next-summer/


^ Nanaimo - Vancouver

 

 

 

A trio of companies is suing the Nanaimo Port Authority (NPA) and a private equity firm for allegedly stealing confidential information related to a plan to start a high-speed Nanaimo-to-downtown-Vancouver passenger ferry service.

 

Island Ferry Services Ltd., Island Ferry Management Ltd. and Island Maritime Holdings Ltd. filed a notice of civil claim in BC Supreme Court on August 16. The companies claim the port authority and Conqora Capital Partners Inc. abruptly backed out of a proposed deal for equity financing and a lease in November 2020. The Island Ferry plaintiffs claim they’ve spent more than 15 years and upwards of $18 million developing plans for ferry service between downtown Vancouver and Nanaimo.

 

https://biv.com/arti...passenger-ferry

 

Island Ferries, according to the claim, has been exploring plans for ferry services on several different routes since 2006, raising millions in investments and securing $30 million in financing from the Toronto-Dominion Bank for vessels.

 

Moreover, the companies claim they have “strong support” from all levels of government to start the service, having obtained more than $13 million from a federal government grant. Most of the confidential information, according to the claim, was “required” by the port authority as well as TransLink to secure space at the Nanaimo terminal and the SeaBus terminal.

 

 

 

 

^ So these guys (working for 15 years on the plan) were going to be using the Seabus terminal.  But the proponent above is using the seaplane terminal. 

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 10 November 2022 - 08:14 AM.

[max.bravo]

How many times have we heard this story? Private ferry startup seeks to revolutionize travel on the coast. It gets started years behind schedule. Runs for a year or two until it bleeds into insolvency. Rinse and repeat.

If these things were profitable there would be private ferries up and down the coast. It always needs some level of public cash to subsidize costs. Without that, good luck.

It seems the very small water taxis can make a go of it privately. But not big passenger ferries

[Victoria Watcher]

How many times have we heard this story? Private ferry startup seeks to revolutionize travel on the coast. It gets started years behind schedule. Runs for a year or two until it bleeds into insolvency. Rinse and repeat.

If these things were profitable there would be private ferries up and down the coast. It always needs some level of public cash to subsidize costs. Without that, good luck.

It seems the very small water taxis can make a go of it privately. But not big passenger ferries

 

Would it be in the interset of either (or both) side (Nanaimo or Vancouver) to subsidize a fast passenger ferry?

 

Nanaimo could woo some wealthy businsss-people and others to live there, that would normally find the crossing too much a hassle or inconvenient, and provide their residents with easy access to the Big City for shopping, leisure and events that would never happen in Nanaimo.

 

And Vancouver could extend its influence and offer another option for shoppers and tourists etc.

 

 

 

 

 

Also, Seattle/Victoria does seem to work, that private very big ferry.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 10 November 2022 - 10:27 AM.

[Mike K.]

No competition for the Clipper. A fast ferry from Nanaimo would compete with two routes to the mainland.

[Nparker]

...Also, Seattle/Victoria does seem to work, that private very big ferry.

The Clipper creates an international connection that appeals to tourists on both sides of the border. It's apples and oranges with the Nanaimo situation.