B.C. Ferries rant number 3 · Friday December 14, 2007 by colin newell
The newest member of B.C.‘s ferry fleet arrived Thursday and the people who didn’t get to build them have a kink or two in their bulkheads.
And so do I.
They’re now urging Ottawa to use the $82 million in import duties to support the province’s shipbuilding industry.
The Coastal Renaissance is the first of three ships to be built in Germany by the Flensburger Shipyard, for a paltry $524 million.
Peter Julian, the NDP-MP for Burnaby-New Westminster, said “about 5,000 direct and indirect local jobs were lost by the short-sighted provincial government investment in the German shipbuilding industry, rather than supporting B.C. jobs.”
At a ceremony for the ship’s arrival, B.C. Ferries president David Hahn said “I am more concerned about lowering ferry fares for British Columbians than subsidizing the shipbuilding industry.”
Say what?
The Flensburger yard was a bankrupt shipyard and the reason it’s able to compete in the manner it does today is simply because the government invested in it. Sound familiar?
Yes, the shipyards of British Columbia are very busy, thank you very much. It is just that the optics of this situation do not bear up under closer scrutiny. For instance, B.C. shipyards were shut out of the bidding process – and that includes the Washington Marine group – current owners of the former Fast-Cat Ferries
So Ottawa. Give us the import duties back… and maybe the Gordon Campbell Liberals can restore the funding to the Women’s Centers in the Province that have faced budget cutbacks this year.
Take a Safe Boating Course and get your Boat License in BC from Boater Exam.
Looking inward adlib number one
why don’t you ask the shipyard workers doing all the whinning and complaining about how these ferry contracts were awarded to Germany why they are not screaming to the press about how their employer -washington marine group. had 4 barges built for their own operation built offshore just recently. I guess the fact is that their own employer doesn’t think they’re competitive.
— dave henson Jan 16, 01:11 pm #
Barges huh… Thanks. That is really meaningful information. I like the money that B.C. spent throwing a party for the lucky Germans in their shipyard. Hey, i really think it will be important for Canada to know how to build boats… for when World War III starts.
— Colin Jan 16, 09:12 pm #
Duh! -great comment Colin. The reason they’re not building ships is that they haven’t kept up with shipbuilding technology and their equipment and facilities couldn’t possibly permit them to bid competitively. I guess the contract should have been awarded to the same companies that managed to produce the fast cats at three times the figure that they originally bid and ended up being problematic from the time they hit the water. The fact is that the shipyards here don’t have the ability or knowledge required to build ships competetively. As a provincial taxpayer, I would be appalled to find that I once again paid three times the open market price to build a ferry that I am already subsidizing with my tax dollars. The taxpayer wouldn’t have to throw a party for the b.c shipbuilders because if history has taught us anything, they would not complete the job on time or even remotely on budget.
— bob Jan 23, 08:47 pm #
Good comment Bob – much appreciated. Yea, lets use any excuses we can to export jobs to Europe… and in the end, we will be just like the U.S.A – looking at China producing everything for them… and their economy in a shambles. Do not get me wrong. I totally get where you are coming from. Would you explain, in your wisdom, why the Washington marine group was excluded from the bidding process for the new Ferries? And the bit about not keeping up with ship building technology? Not sure I buy that. I spent 4 years as a Electronics Apprentice in a Victoria Military shipyard with visits to other Victoria and Vancouver area shipyards – and I am at a loss to recognize what technology was missing. Anyway – thanks for your insightful comments.
— Colin Jan 24, 10:29 am #
May.04,09
To
I am a fifty year old woman and I have made it this far in my life without walking on the Ferry with a Dog. I now have a little dog and went from Vancouver Island to Vancouver and back with her this weekend, I was shocked to say the lest. Are you kidding! An ice cold room on the car deck, did I just become a second class citizen, and that was on the new ferry, five hard cold seats,in a very small area, there were nine people with dogs on both ferries that I was on and this is May when it is not busy, on the way back it was on the old ferry, A ten by ten space, it is shocking that you get away with forcing people to sit like this, it is crazy , water was coming in and the place was soaked , the fumes from the ferry choked us the whole trip and what if you need to go to the bath room, you can’t go up stairs, I asked why and the story was that they did not want fleas in the carpet, HELLO…….. people with cats in crates are up stairs and I know for a fact that two of the people with little dogs, put them in their bags and went up and had lunch, so yo are not stopping anything. One man told me his eighty year old mother came with her little dog at christmas, got soaked and very cold and ended up in the hospital. So in a way this is just a lawsuit in waiting, if it had been my mother, I would have been shouting from the roof tops.David Hahn
This is unexceptible.
There is no reason that you could not make a comfortable dog or animal place that is shealtered and safe.
It does not have to be in the carpeted places, the upper deck smoking area on all ferries, is shealtered and no fumes and could easily be cut in half and still be big enough for both and if closed in and a heater put in could be warm, my dog was scaried the whole time from the engine noises. You could easily go from the walk on to the upper deck without going inside.
I will be going on the ferries with my dog in the future and will not be sitting in that cold horrible spot if it is too cold, I will be putting my little dog in my bag and going up stairs, and I could happily get 50 or so of my dog friends to help protest if it comes to that, I can not sit on cold medal chairs for two hours, it is just too painfull and I won’t be doing it. Hoping to see some changes very soon.
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On the other hand, As I was walking on to the ferry, some dog owner had let thier dog poop and not cleaned it up and then people had stepped in it and it was a mess.
This must be so gross & stressfull for staff and the Ferries in general and I truely apologize as a dog owner for people who don’t clean up after their dogs and leave it for others, I don’t know what they can be thinking.
I think there need to be signs reminding people to clean up and bags for poop too, I never saw any, but myself, I would never leave it, it is my dog and so mine to clean up after.
And in saying that I would feel fine paying a small fee to bring my dog on the ferry. And I think there could be a small dog fee and a large dog fee , maybe $5 and $10 would not be out of line.
I pay to take her to hotels with me so why not on the ferries if I walk on, but not the way the dog rooms are now, they have to be improved …..Please.
Truly concerned
cathy
— Cathy May 4, 12:58 pm #