Fast Ferry Scandal - PacifiCat Fleet

PacifiCat Fleet

The vessels built for BC Ferries were intended to improve ferry service between the mainland terminal of Horseshoe Bay (in West Vancouver) and the Vancouver Island terminal at Departure Bay (in Nanaimo).

The three vessels were built between 1998–2000 and were named as follows:

• PacifiCat Explorer (1998)
• PacifiCat Discovery (1999)
• PacifiCat Voyager (2000)

Technically, PacifiCat Voyager was never part of the BC Ferries fleet, as it was christened but never commissioned; by the time this vessel was ready for deployment, the bottom had already fallen out of the Fast Ferry Program.

The vessels had a service speed of 37 knots (68 km/h) and a capacity for 250 car-equivalents and 1000 passengers. The hulls of all three vessels had slightly varying murals that depict a cougar.

Due to various oversights by the government, BC Ferries, design bureaus, and the shipyards, the cost of the program more than doubled from $210 million ($70 million/vessel) to almost $460 million ($150 million/vessel) and final delivery was almost 3 years behind schedule. As with all prototype construction this cost and build time was gradually being reduced with each successive completion. A large part of the delay was because the shipyards commissioned to construct the vessels had very little experience working with aluminum. Also design changes during construction caused delays and more costs. Previously, construction of aluminum vessels in British Columbia had been limited to fishing boats and special-purpose vessels. The construction of three dual-hulled 122.5 m catamarans represented a very large leap of faith by the Government in British Columbia shipyards.

The first fastcat began service between Horseshoe Bay and Nanaimo on June 1999 and the second fastcat began operating on November 1999. The ferries had the following problems during their brief tenure:

• High fuel consumption. The four 8,375 brake horsepower (6.2 MW) engines driving their waterjets required an inordinate amount of diesel fuel. Fully loaded and traveling at top speed of 34 knots/ 63 km an hour required the engines to be used at 90% power. This was largely due to BC Ferries' insistence on using diesel engines rather than the more efficient gas turbines that were originally planned. This may be a false claim. The MTU engines selected and used were (and remain) state of the art for high speed engines. Their fuel consumption at 90% load is approximately 206 gm/kWhr. Comparable gas turbine would be the Kawasaki GBP70 at 6639 kW and a fuel consumption of 284 gm/kWhr or about 36% higher.
• Due to an unusually wet and windy winter, there was a higher than normal amount of flotsam in the waters along the route, some of which was sucked into impellers for the ferries' engines, causing breakdowns and sailing cancellations.
• When operated at full speed, the Pacificat fleet created a wake which was reported to have damaged waterfront wharves and property in coastal areas near the two terminals. This required that the ferries reduce speed in certain areas and alter course in others, reducing their speed advantage.
• The air on vehicle decks became uncomfortably warm, either from the heat of the vessel engines or lack of air circulation. This made some people wary of bringing pets aboard the FastCats; however, the ferries had kennels with improved air circulation at the bow and stern of the vehicle decks.
• There was little outside deck space for passengers. The existing ferries had large decks, and it was common for passengers to spend the entire sailing circling the decks of the ship or sunbathing on the lifejacket containers.
• The ships had interiors that were perceived by passengers as being cramped compared to the existing ferries.
• Loading took longer than the older ferries due to balancing issues. This further negated the ships' speed advantage.

After a change in leadership, the new Premier of BC, Ujjal Dosanjh, placed the ferries up for sale. A subsequent election virtually eliminated the New Democratic Party from the legislature, and Gordon Campbell of the BC Liberals auctioned off the PacifiCat fleet on March 24, 2003 for $19.4 million ($6.5 million/vessel) to the Washington Marine Group. Further controversy erupted when it was revealed that the same company, which is a prominent financial backer of the Liberal Party, had offered $60 million for the vessels prior to the auction. Some claimed the aluminum ships were worth more as scrap. Others said the Indonesians were prepared to pay as much as $88 million.