Public frustration over vessel breakdowns and crew shortages shuttering sailings in 2023 has BC Ferries looking to quell concerns about its reliability.
Ferry officials on Wednesday (Jan. 31) gave a briefing on their plan to have all of the fleetsa国际传媒檚 major vessels running during the busy season.
The plan includes not scheduling any vessel refits for the upcoming summer, when a record number of passengers is expected. Those regular maintenance refits used to see ferries being worked on into June.
Substantial vessel parts are repaired or replaced during refits, which take four to six weeks. The 20 refits scheduled for 2024 include 15 major vessels.
sa国际传媒淧reventative and scheduled maintenance is a core component of delivering reliable, dependable and safe service that British Columbians expect as a critical component of the transportation system,sa国际传媒� said Brian Anderson, BC Ferriessa国际传媒� vice president of strategy and planning.
Scheduling no refits for next summer will provide better service, but it will put pressure on maintenance operations that are now compressed into the remaining nine months of the year, said Stephen Jones, VP of engineering.
Wednesdaysa国际传媒檚 briefing came after the Coastal Renaissance sa国际传媒� which services major routes between Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland sa国际传媒� broke down unexpectedly last August. The vesselsa国际传媒檚 return is now slated for March after its repair timeline has been extended multiple times.
Issues affecting the fleetsa国际传媒檚 three diesel-electric coastal-class ferries pertain to the rotors in their drive motors. The rotors create noise and vibrations that can disrupt neighbours and terminal infrastructure. BC Ferries has responded by shutting off the in-shore propeller when those vessels are docked.
That strategy has cut the 25-year service life of the coastal-class ferries in half because theysa国际传媒檙e having to start up twice as much. The ferries have 30,000 starts in them when theysa国际传媒檙e brand new.
Jones said there are no other ways to mitigate the noise and vibration issues, but theysa国际传媒檙e installing variable speed motor controls in all coastal-class ferries that will prevent rotor failures from reoccurring.
sa国际传媒淭hese have been incredibly reliable vessels for us so wesa国际传媒檙e very confident (theysa国际传媒檒l run this summer),sa国际传媒� the engineer said. sa国际传媒淭he key to getting more resilience into our system is ultimately getting more vessels.sa国际传媒�
BC Ferriessa国际传媒� plans call for replacing legacy vessels with slightly larger ferries that will help incrementally increase passenger capacity, said Anderson.
The fleet currently includes six Queen-class ferries that range from 42 to 59 years old. Anything older than four decades is considered beyond its designed life, which increases the risk of irreparable failure, according to the ferry operator.
They try their best to swap other ships into busy routes when a vessel breaks down, but Anderson said crews may not be certified to work on every vessel and all of their boats donsa国际传媒檛 fit into every berth. Thatsa国际传媒檚 why their long-term plans will push for more standardization as fleets and terminals are upgraded, he added.
But new vessels also bring other challenges as those models have shifted away from being entirely mechanical to having more electronic and digital systems.
sa国际传媒淲e are going to have to rethink, to some degree, the way that we think about maintenance in order to keep costs under control and ensure we deliver the reliability and safety that our customers need,sa国际传媒� Jones said.
Asked if BC Ferriessa国际传媒� 150 skilled workers are trained to work on hybrid and electric models, he said theysa国际传媒檙e currently providing that training, but it will have to ramp up as fleets evolve.
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