MV Northern Sea Wolf

Last updated

MV Northern Sea Wolf.jpg
MV Northern Sea Wolf
History
Flag of Greece.svgGreece
NameAgios Andreas II
Owner Agios Andreas Shipping
Operator
Port of registry Piraeus, Flag of Greece.svg  Greece
BuilderPanagiotakis Brothers, Salamis, Greece
Launched2000
Completed2000
Maiden voyage2000
NotesSold
Flag of Greece.svg Greece
NameAndreas II
Owner Atlas V Shipping
Acquired2005
Flag of Sweden.svg Sweden
NameMr Shoppy One
Owner Orvelin Group
Acquired2007
Flag of Greece.svg Greece
NameAqua Spirit
Owner Orveline Hellenic Shipping Company
Operator
Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Canada
NameNorthern Sea Wolf
Owner British Columbia Ferry Services Inc.
Operator BC Ferries
Port of registry Victoria, British Columbia
Route Bella Coola to Port Hardy
Cost
  • CAD$12.6 million purchase price
  • $62.4 million refit cost
AcquiredAugust 30, 2017
In serviceJune 3, 2019
Identification
StatusIn service
General characteristics
Type Ferry
Tonnage
  • 2,695  GT
  • 1,090  NT
Length76.38 m (250 ft 7 in)
Beam15 m (49 ft 3 in)
Draft4.2 m (13 ft 9 in)
RampsOne on transom
Installed power2 × 2,399  kW (3,217  hp) Cummins diesel engines
Propulsion2 propellers
Speed15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Capacity
  • Passengers: 150
  • Vehicles: 35 cars
  • 353  DWT

The MV Northern Sea Wolf is a roll-on/roll-off (RORO) ferry operated by BC Ferries in British Columbia, Canada. Her normal sailing schedule is five days a week during the peak summer season on the Inside Passage route connecting Bella Coola and Port Hardy. The route normally takes about ten hours to complete. Her schedule calls for one trip per day during daylight hours to maximize passenger enjoyment of the scenery.

Contents

Description and construction

The ship was the vision of the leader of Agios Andreas shipping company Captain Michalis Boutsis and his partners. She was designed by the naval architect Nikos Petichakis. The ship was built at the Ambelaki Shipyard at Ambelaki, Salamis, Greece by the Panagiotakis Brothers company. Her hull is built of welded steel plates. She is 76.38 metres (250 ft 7 in) long, with a beam of 15 metres (49 ft 3 in). She has a large vehicle loading ramp that comprises most of her transom. She cruises at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph), driven by two propellers. Propulsion power is provided by two 2,399- kilowatt (3,217  hp ) Cummins diesel engines. She was launched in 2000. [1]

Amenities

Northern Sea Wolf features these passenger amenities:

European service

Mr. Shoppy One Mr. Shoppy.jpg
Mr. Shoppy One

The ship was christened Agios Andreas II. She began her life as a ferry on the Piraeus to Aegina route in Greece. In 2004 she was chartered to the Kefalonia Line and sailed between islands in the Ionian Sea.

In July 2005 she was sold to Atlas V Shipping and renamed Andreas II. Under this new ownership, she sailed between Kythira Island and Neapoli Voion in Greece. [3]

Aqua Spirit at Naxos in 2013. Aqua Spirit Naxos 01.jpg
Aqua Spirit at Naxos in 2013.
Aqua Spirit at Syros. Aqua Spirit Boat of Nel Lines.JPG
Aqua Spirit at Syros.

In October 2007 she was acquired by a Swedish company, Orvelin Group, and renamed Mr. Shoppy One. During this period she shuttled across the Skagerrak, between Strömstad, Sweden and Tønsberg, Norway, and on Mondays between Strömstad and Skagen, Denmark. The motivation of her Norwegian passengers was to buy liquor and other goods in Sweden, where taxes were lower, and then sail home. Norwegian customs authorities resisted the loss of tax revenue and fined Overlin Group SEK9 million. Overlin's countersuit failed and the ship was laid-up in Gothenburg in 2009. [3] [4]

On April 28, 2011 the ship was sold to Orveline Hellenic Shipping Company of Piraeus. The company executed a five-year bareboat charter agreement with NEL Lines which renamed the ship Aqua Spirit. She departed Gothenburg on June 14, 2014 for her new assignment. She returned to Greece and served as a ferry in the Cyclades in the Aegean Sea. She was idled when NEL Lines went bankrupt in 2015. [3]

In February 2016 she was chartered to Seajets and continued her service among the Cyclades.

British Columbia service

BC Ferries provided direct Bella Coola - Port Hardy service using Queen of Chilliwack until 2013 when it was cancelled by the provincial government due to steep financial losses on the route. The minister of transportation at the time reported that British Columbia taxpayers paid a $2,500 subsidy for each vehicle on the ferry. Tourism operators were hurt by the cancellation and put pressure on the government to restore service. During the 2017 provincial election campaign, Premier Christy Clark promised to restore the service in 2018. [5]

The premier's short timeframe ruled out building a new ship. After a global search, BC Ferries identified Aqua Spirit, then 17 years old, as its best choice. On August 30, 2017, she was acquired for CAD$12.6 million. [6] [7] [8] BC Ferries renamed the ship Northern Sea Wolf after a process of community engagement. The name honors a First Nations legend that the sea wolf is a manifestation of the orca. [2] After dry-docking in Malta, the ship sailed to Esquimalt, British Columbia via the Panama Canal. The voyage took 35 days with fuel stops in the Canary Islands, Antigua, Panama, and Manzanillo. [9]

On arrival in British Columbia, in January 2018, Northern Sea Wolf was sent to Esquimalt Drydock Company for a major refit. The main propulsion engines and gearboxes were overhauled. New electrical generators were installed and electrical switchboards upgraded. Navigation and safety systems were upgraded. A full galley was added. Passenger accommodations and crew spaces were reconfigured and refurbished. [10] When work began, however, a number of deficiencies that had been missed by both the classification societies and BC Ferries' own surveyors became apparent. These included problems with the fire safety systems, corrosion, propeller shafts, and HVAC systems. [5] BC Ferries was unable to meet the premier's goal of having the ship in service during the 2018 season. It was a year late. Similarly, while the budget for the acquisition and refit of the ship was $55.7 million, the final cost was $75 million, 30% over budget. [11] The Canadian federal government contributed $15.1 million to the project. [12]

Northern Sea Wolf made her maiden commercial voyage on her Bella Coola - Port Hardy route on June 3, 2019. [13] During the course of the 2019 season, the ship made 130 trips. She carried more than 5,750 passengers and 2,265 vehicles. [14] In 2019 adult fares started at $199.25, and standard cars were carried for $403. [15]

On November 22, 2019, Northern Sea Wolf hit a log while underway. The log strike damaged both propellers, necessitating dry-docking the vessel for repairs. She was replaced by the smaller ferry Nimpkish. [16] In April 2020, BC Ferries announced that Northern Sea Wolf would not run during the 2020 season due to decreased travel during the COVID-19 pandemic. The off-season schedule would continue to be run by the Nimpkish. [17]

BC Ferries returned Northern Sea Wolf to its central British Columbia route in the second half of 2020. With the return to service of the larger ship, Nimpkish was sold on September 20, 2020. [18] Northern Sea Wolf resumed her regular summer route between Bella Coola and Port Hardy on June 19, 2021. [19]

Related Research Articles

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.

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.

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MV <i>Queen of the North</i> British Columbian ferry

MV Queen of the North was a roll-on/roll-off (RORO) ferry built by AG Weser of Germany and operated by BC Ferries, which ran along an 18-hour route along the British Columbia Coast of Canada between Port Hardy and Prince Rupert, British Columbia, a route also known as the Inside Passage. On March 22, 2006, with 101 people aboard, she failed to make a planned course change, ran aground and sank. Two passengers, whose bodies were never found, died in the incident. The ship had a gross register tonnage of 8,806, and an overall length of 125 metres (410 ft). She had a capacity of 700 passengers and 115 cars.

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MV <i>Queen of Surrey</i>

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MV <i>Northern Adventure</i>

MV Northern Adventure is a roll-on/roll-off (RORO) ferry operated by BC Ferries. She sails two routes: the scenic Inside Passage route between Port Hardy and Prince Rupert and the Haida Gwaii crossing between Prince Rupert and Skidegate. The vessel was laid down by Atsalakis-Sidironaftiki shipyard on 11 September 2001 at their yard in Perama, Greece. The ship was launched on 19 October 2002 under the name Adamantios Korais. However, construction was delayed and the vessel was not completed until 19 July 2004 under the name Sonia, and later Sonia X. The ferry was chartered by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago for use on a route between Port of Spain, Trinidad and Scarborough, Tobago. In 2006, the ferry was acquired by BC Ferries and entered service under her current name Northern Adventure in 2007.

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MV <i>Queen of Chilliwack</i>

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References

  1. "Details for registered vessel NORTHERN SEA WOLF (O.N. 841406)". Transport Canada.
  2. 1 2 "BC Ferries and First Peoples' Cultural Council Reveal Indigenous Artwork for Northern Sea Wolf Vessel". BC Ferries. November 23, 2018. Archived from the original on April 12, 2019. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
  3. 1 2 3 "M/S AGIOS ANDREAS II (2000)". www.faktaomfartyg.se. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
  4. Blomgren, Ulf (November 16, 2019). "Historien um "Mr. Shoppy"". Stromstads Tidning (in Swedish).
  5. 1 2 Shaw, Rob (June 5, 2019). "$76-million ship a big fat Greek lemon for B.C. taxpayers" . The Province via newspapers.com.
  6. Wilson, Carla (March 1, 2019). "Costs for Northern Sea Wolf ferry still uncertain, millions over budget". Times Colonist. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
  7. "Aqua Spirit". greekpassengerships. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
  8. "Northern Sea Wolf Handed Over to BC Ferries". Offshore Energy. September 1, 2017. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
  9. Elena (January 12, 2018). "Northern Sea Wolf – Ship of the Week Jan 12, 2017". West Pacific Marine. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
  10. "BC Ferries Awards Northern Sea Wolf Upgrade To Esquimalt Drydock". supplypost.com. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
  11. Wilson, Carla (May 8, 2019). "Former Greek ferry to Ply B.C. waters this month after renovation" . The Province via newspapers.com.
  12. Thompson, Caitlin (May 23, 2019). "Sailings filling up on Northern Sea Wolf". Coast Mountain News.
  13. Duffy, Andrew. "Northern Sea Wolf ferry completed 130 voyages, helped with major rescue". Times Colonist. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
  14. "Industry News - October, 2019". supplypost.com. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
  15. Chan, Kenneth. "BC Ferries launches new vessel for Great Bear Rainforest route (PHOTOS)". dailyhive.com. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
  16. "North Coast Review: Damage to propellors puts BC Ferry Northern Seawolf into drydock for repairs". North Coast Review. December 11, 2019. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
  17. Thompson, Caitlin (April 7, 2020). "Northern Sea Wolf service suspended for 2020; Nimpkish to serve route". Coast Mountain News. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
  18. "Nimpkish sold as Northern Sea Wolf resumes central coast route". Coast Mountain News. September 22, 2020. Retrieved July 4, 2021.
  19. "Summer ferry service to Bella Coola to start June 19". Coast Mountain News. June 18, 2021. Retrieved July 4, 2021.