The "Baynes Sound Connector" en route to Buckley Bay | |
Canada | |
---|---|
Name | Baynes Sound Connector |
Owner | British Columbia Ferry Services Inc. |
Operator | BC Ferries |
Route | Buckley Bay ↔ Denman Island |
Launched | 2015 |
Christened | 2015 |
Acquired | 2015 |
In service | February 2016 |
Identification |
|
Status | In Service |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | unclassed |
Type | ferry |
Displacement | 750 t [1] |
Length | 78.5 m |
Installed power | 998 HP |
Speed | 8.5 knots |
Capacity |
|
The Baynes Sound Connector is a car ferry owned and operated by B.C. Ferries that runs between Buckley Bay on Vancouver Island and Denman Island. It is the first and only cable ferry in the BC Ferries fleet [2] and replaced the self-propelled MV Quinitsa in February 2016.
Red and green transit lights are installed at both Buckley Bay and Denman West terminals facing oncoming marine traffic in each direction. It is illegal to cross the channel while the red light is on, signifying the ferry is in transit. [3]
The crossing with a length of 1961.48 metres is the longest cable ferry crossing in the world. It uses 2 guide cables and a third driving cable.
In 2013 BC Ferries, Dynamic Systems Analysis and E.Y.E. Marine Consultants presented a paper at the SNAME Annual Meeting showing design elements and numerical simulations of the proposed ferry, in particular the hydraulically driven bull wheels operating on a single traction cable and two guide cables - 1.625" cables to be pretensioned with 200 kN - and pontoon docking. [4]
The ferry was built by Seaspan [5] at its Vancouver Shipyards at a cost of CAD$15 Million. [6] It is a 258-foot-long ferry designed for 150 passengers and 50 vehicles. [7]
Its construction suffered delays and trial mishaps and the project has been drawing heavy criticism for using more fuel than the previous ship and for a lower service reliability notably caused by the downtime during excessive wind speed. BC Ferries denied the allegations. [5] [6] [8]
In 2019 the Baynes Sound Connector in the 3 years since launch surpassed 30,000 sailings and saved more than 415,000 liters of fuel on route. [9] In the same year it was criticized for shedding plastic from the cables. [10]
A BC Ferries review of 16 February 2023 identified persisting problems with "overheating of the hydraulic motors, bolt cracking on the bull-wheel and hull fouling". "The broad community continues to be unsupportive of the vessel and reactions to potential increased investment remain highly negative." The review recommends to meet increasing demand with an additional smaller conventional ferry at peak times and to repower and expand the Baynes Sound Connector e.g. in 2034. [11]
A ferry is a watercraft that carries passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water taxi or water bus.
Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The island is 456 km (283 mi) in length, 100 km (62 mi) in width at its widest point, and 32,100 km2 (12,400 sq mi) in total area, while 31,285 km2 (12,079 sq mi) are of land. The island is the largest by area and the most populous along the west coasts of the Americas.
British Columbia Ferry Services Inc., operating as BC Ferries (BCF), is a former provincial Crown corporation, now operating as an independently managed, publicly owned Canadian company. BC Ferries provides all major passenger and vehicle ferry services for coastal and island communities in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Set up in 1960 to provide a similar service to that provided by the Black Ball Line and the Canadian Pacific Railway, which were affected by job action at the time, BC Ferries has become the largest passenger ferry line in North America, operating a fleet of 41 vessels with a total passenger and crew capacity of over 27,000, serving 47 locations on the B.C. coast.
Highway 19A, known locally as the Oceanside Route or the Old Island Highway, is a provincial highway in British Columbia, Canada. It runs along two former sections of Highway 19 on Vancouver Island, within Nanaimo and between Craig's Crossing and Campbell River. The section of Highway 19A between Craig's Crossing and Campbell River is 136.89 km (85.06 mi) long, and the Nanaimo alignment covers 10.64 km (6.61 mi). The highway was established after Highway 19 was realigned to a new road between 1996 and 2001.
The Strait of Georgia or the Georgia Strait is an arm of the Salish Sea between Vancouver Island and the extreme southwestern mainland coast of British Columbia, Canada, and the extreme northwestern mainland coast of Washington, United States. It is approximately 240 kilometres (150 mi) long and varies in width from 20 to 58 kilometres. Along with the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Puget Sound, it is a constituent part of the Salish Sea.
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The Comox Valley is a region on the east coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, that includes the city of Courtenay, the town of Comox, the village of Cumberland, and the unincorporated settlements of Royston, Union Bay, Fanny Bay, Black Creek, and Merville. The communities of Denman Island and Hornby Island are also considered part of the Comox Valley. The Comox Valley contains the 47th largest metropolitan area in Canada with a population of about 76,000 as of 2022.
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Baynes Sound is the channel between Denman Island and Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The sound is a narrow western offshoot of the Strait of Georgia that separates Vancouver Island from the mainland of British Columbia. The area is actively harvested by the local oyster industry, as is apparent by an abundance of oyster farms. It produces 39% of the oysters and 55% of the manila clams farmed in British Columbia. The sound is 40 km (25 mi) long and is 3.5 km (2.2 mi) wide at its widest point, although the average width is less than 2 km (1.2 mi). The southern boundary lies around Chrome Island, a small island off Boyle Point, the southern tip of Denman. The northern boundary is less defined, but lies between Tree Island at the northern end of Denman and the Comox harbour. The sound is dotted with the small communities of Royston, Union Bay, Buckley Bay, Mud Bay, Fanny Bay, and Deep Bay on Vancouver Island. The crossing is served by the British Columbia Ferry Services Inc. ship MV Baynes Sound Connector, between Buckley Bay and Denman Island. Baynes Sound is named after British Rear Admiral Robert L. Baynes, who commanded the Pacific Squadron from 1857 to 1860. Baynes Sound is the home of Vancouver Island University Center for Shellfish Research's Deep Bay Marine Field Station.
BC Ferries operates two T-class ferries for use on small inter-island routes. They have raised bows, which make it easier for the ships to travel in the rough seas often found on British Columbia's central coast. The ferries carry 30 cars and 150 passengers. Both were built in 1969. They were originally owned and operated by the British Columbia Ministry of Transportation until 1985, when the Ministry's saltwater ferries and routes were transferred to BC Ferries, including the T class. The two T-class ferries are Tachek and Quadra Queen II.
Buckley Bay is a geographical location on the east coast of Vancouver Island, located between Union Bay to the north and Fanny Bay to the south. It is the departure point for the BC Ferries crossing of Baynes Sound to Denman Island and on to Hornby Island. Buckley Bay is accessible from both the Old Island Highway (19A) and from Exit 101 on the newer Inland Island Highway (19). The Island Rail Corridor also passes through Buckley Bay at Mile 126.2 of the Victoria Subdivision. The area has a population of 173, according to the 2006 Census.
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