Shameless Olympic Promo

Three new BC Ferries that will sail from Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft (FSG) to British Columbia home this fall are being wrapped with a massive invitation to the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

"The 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games offer a tremendous opportunity to showcase our great province and country to the world," said Premier Campbell. "By wrapping the three new BC Ferries in powerful images that promote our province, our country and our Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, we're inviting the world to join us before, during and after 2010."

Each of BC Ferries' three new, 160 metre 'Super C-class' ships will be wrapped with massive photographic images and branding colors representing the 2010 Winter Games and the beauty of British Columbia. The wrapped ferries will sail from Flensburg, Germany, via the Panama Canal, to British Columbia this fall and their journey home will include promotional stops in London, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle to raise awareness for the 2010 Winter Games and to promote British Columbia as a tourism destination..

BC Ferries is collaborating with VANOC and 3M Canada to design and create the giant decals, believed to be the largest marine application of printed graphics ever undertaken. The decals will be produced in Vancouver and applied at the FSG in Germany. Each ship will prominently feature four full color images promoting British Columbia and winter sport through the depiction of Canadian winter athletes and VANOC's signature brand blue and green palate.

The first ship, the Coastal Renaissance, is scheduled to be unveiled with its 2010 Winter Games livery in Flensburg on September 21, and to arrive in British Columbia via the Panama Canal in mid-November.

The ship's promotional images feature short track speed skating at the 2006 Olympic Winter Games, men's alpine skiing (sitting category) at the 2006 Paralympic Winter Games, vineyards near Vaseux Lake in the Okanagan and Nabob Pass situated in the Cariboo Chilcotin Coast Region, British Columbia.

The Coastal Renaissance will be put into service in January 2008 and the remaining two vessels, the Coastal Inspiration and the Coastal Celebration, will be in service by the summer of 2008. The new Super C-class ships will be the largest double-ended ferries in the world, with capacity for 1,650 passengers and 370 vehicles.

"BC Ferries is among British Columbia's most prominent tourism icons, so we're keen to help promote the 2010 Games enroute as we bring each ship home to British Columbia and then to the passengers we transport annually," said David Hahn. "The Super Cs are the most advanced ferries of their kind in the world and each ship will be seen by hundreds of thousands of visitors-- it's hard to imagine a more uniquely 'BC' way to promote the 2010 Games."

The 2010 Olympic Winter Games will be staged in Vancouver and Whistler from February 12 to 28, 2010. Vancouver and Whistler will host the Paralympic Winter Games from March 12 to 21, 2010.

*mods can "nix" at their discretion

I hear ya !!

Most people are playing "nice" because of the Olympic hype, but the knives will come out after the games on this and other issues no doubt.

Here is another story line (subject to change as time nears)

New ferries beat clock and budget
Dave Obee, Times Colonist
Published: Sunday, March 11, 2007


FLENSBURG, Germany -- The Coastal Renaissance, the first of three vessels being built here for B.C. Ferries, is under budget and ahead of schedule, according to the ferry corporation.


New Super-C class ferry being built in Germany. They'll have an operating speed of 21-knots, faster than the Spirit ferries.

The same thing goes for the next two ships, the Coastal Inspiration and the Coastal Celebration. A fourth ferry, the Northern Expedition, is in the design phase.

The new vessels are part of an effort by B.C. Ferries to replenish its aging fleet and improve an image that was otherwise tarnished by labour and safety issues -- chiefly the sinking of the Queen of the North nearly a year ago -- as well as higher fares blamed on increasing fuel costs.

As controversial as it was to have the Super-C class vessels built outside of British Columbia, it would be foolish to figure on a fast-ferry fiasco from the German shipyard that's constructing them.

The Coastal Renaissance is rapidly taking shape in the Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft yard just north of downtown Flensburg. It is expected to set sail for Canada in September -- a month ahead of schedule -- and be in service between Horseshoe Bay and Departure Bay before Christmas.

The Inspiration will join the Renaissance in April 2008, and the Celebration will be on the Swartz Bay-Tsawwassen route by July -- also ahead of schedule.

Mike Corrigan, executive vice-president and chief operating officer at B.C. Ferries, said every indication so far is that the corporation will be able to beat the $542-million budget for the three ferries, set by the B.C. Ferries board in 2004.

Of that total, Flensburger is getting $334 million for designing and building them.

Uwe Otto, the company's executive vice-president, said rising prices in the past three years have made the B.C. Ferries deal seem like a bargain.

"The cost would be about 50 per cent higher today," he said.

Otto said the difference is the market for raw materials. Shipbuilders around the globe have been adding capacity to meet a rising demand for container vessels. As a result, costs have soared. Steel has doubled in price in recent years, and copper is up by 400 per cent.

As an example, he said a vessel built for $30 million two years ago recently changed hands for three times the cost of building it. The cost of labour -- about 25 per cent of the total for a new vessel -- has been more stable.

Otto said there has even been a notable rise in costs since last summer, when B.C. Ferries signed a $133-million deal with Flensburger for the Northern Expedition. "It was a good management decision to go ahead when they did," he said.

Corrigan said that having Flensburger design and build the ferries -- rather than giving it set plans -- has paid off for B.C. Ferries. It has been able to tap into Flensburger's experience building ferries for other companies, but has still had the flexibility to make hundreds of modifications to the plans since the contract was signed.

While the new ferries are being built, B.C. Ferries continues to juggle its fleet on the northern routes.

The Queen of Prince Rupert took over service between Port Hardy and Prince Rupert after the Queen of the North slammed into Gil Island and sank on March 22, 2006. Two people were presumed dead, 99 were rescued.


The Northern Adventure will take over that route, with service tentatively scheduled to begin March 31, B.C. Ferries said. A $9-million refit is due to be completed Friday at Victoria Shipyards in Esquimalt. B.C. Ferries paid $51 million for the Northern Adventure (plus $17 million in import duties and GST), which was built in Greece in 2004 and formerly named the Sonia.

The Northern Adventure will move to the Queen Charlottes run once the Northern Expedition, expected to be in service by spring of 2009, replaces the aging Queen of Prince Rupert.

Washington Marine Group, which owns Seaspan as well as Vancouver Shipyards and Victoria Shipyards, withdrew from bidding for the northern vessel because of the tight deadlines to build a vessel.

I would be very surprised if it doesn't go over budget, once an "independent" assessment is conducted.

On the other hand, I guess the Ferries were a bit "gun shy" after the last time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_Ferries