Building of the PacifiCat Ferries (Part 1/6)

The PacifiCat Series or Fast Cat fast ferries were operated from 1999 to 2000 by BC Ferries. This program chronicles the construction of the first and second of the three Pacificat ferries. It's obviously very biased, as the ferries were a spectacular failure on several levels, but what can you expect when the documentary is funded by the companies involved? Regardless, this is some great, and rare, footage. The title used in the intro screen is the official title, as best I can tell.

The first 5-10 minutes is missing, but I believe it is just a summary of the ferry system in British Columbia, which is easily found on Wikipedia, if one is so inclined. Unfortunately taping (this was broadcast in 1999 or 2000, so a VCR was used; you can see tracking in various places, as well as occasional video glitches which are present on the hard copy) began only after I realized this might be pretty interesting to watch.

The ferries were auctioned off in 2003 by the government of BC for $20 million CAD to the Washington Marine Group. The ferries cost $460 million CAD to build. WMG had offered $60 million prior to the auction. WMG sold the ferries to a company in the UAE, in July 2009.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_Ferry_Scandal

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• ferry
• ferries
• british columbia
• bc
• catamaran
• pacificat
• fast cat
• bc ferries
• glen clark
• ship building
• washington marine group

[dondon1112]

Give 'em a call and ask

[ronmann606]

The whole big picture plan would have word had they listened to people who knew what they were talking about.

[fender4444]

Quite a remarkable piece of engineering. At least an effort was made to build in BC creating REAL JOBS, instead of the Liberals and Gordo Campbell padding their employment creation numbers with minimum wage MC-JOBS! Then he dumps the Fast Cats and sells them for a ridiculous $6 million per ship for political reasons, a slap in the face to all who worked on these ships.They could have been salvaged or modified more, but no. Gordo needed a lie to win another election. Go have a drink at Fred's G!

[kr192101]

Hmmm. I wonder what happened to Tom Ward, Philip Hercus, Bob Allan, Andy Hamilton, Philip Kincaid & David Avery? Do these people still work for Glen Clark? That 9 story building would have been taller. Maybe a 15 - 20 story building for big trucks. Didn't happen.

[kr192101]

The Skeena Queen still runs the Sawatz Bay - Salt Sring island route.

[kr192101]

What's their new 10 year plan now?

[6047223521]

Ya thanks Glen okio

[dondadondon]

thanks!! <3

[BCLibFan]

Thank you for posting :-).

[FerryGeek]

Thank you for uploading these videos to Youtube!