The eventual price tag for the Northern Sea Wolf ferry, acquired to serve the Port Hardy-Bella Coola route, is not yet available because work isn’t finished on the vessel, which has been hit by cost overruns and delays.
“Due to commercial sensitivities related to open contracts, B.C. Ferries cannot comment on total costs until all the work has been completed,” Tessa Humphries, B.C. Ferries’ communications manager, said Thursday.
The ferry project cost jumped to $64 million from its originally approved $55.7 million budget, said a report by Blair Redlin for the provincial government. The report is dated June 30, 2018, but improvements have continued on the ferry, which was 17 years old when it was purchased in Greece in 2017 for $12.6 million.
Tourism operators complained after the province decided in 2013 to discontinue the direct Port Hardy-Bella Coola route, saying they lost millions of dollars in revenue.
The sale of the ship was delayed by 14 weeks because of complications with the original owners, Redlin said. There was a further delay because work was taking longer than anticipated, he said. The ferry was slated to be in service in summer 2018, but that did not happen.
Instead, the Northern Adventure ferry was brought in late in the season. Jayme Kennedy, co-owner of Bella Coola Mountain Lodge, said they lost $30,000 in revenue because of the short season.
The 246-foot Northern Sea Wolf has been in shipyards, first in Victoria and then in Richmond. B.C. Ferries said it is optimistic it will be ready by June 3 for resumption of direct service.
“As a result of the additional work required to bring the vessel up to B.C. Ferries’ and Transport Canada’s standards for safety and passenger comfort, refitting the vessel has cost more than originally estimated,” Humphries said.
Most work is finished and remaining work is expected to wrap up at the end of March, she said. “We have completely modernized the ship with a new galley, bridge, electrical generators, heating and cooling systems, washrooms, elevator, chair lifts, new cafeteria and passenger accommodation area.
“In many aspects the vessel is totally new. It will be a great addition to our northern fleet and the communities we serve.”
Sea trials and systems testing are slated for the first two weeks of April. Crew training takes place mid-April to mid-May, along with Transport Canada testing.
It is anticipated that on May 18, Northern Sea Wolf will take over the mid-coast connector service now served by the Nimpkish ferry. The connector service sees ferries stop at Bella Bella, Shearwater and Ocean Falls.
While B.C. Ferries is hopeful that Northern Sea Wolf will be ready in time for direct Port Hardy-Bella Coola service on June 3, it can not yet guarantee that will happen.
It has a contingency plan for the smaller Nimpkish to operate on the direct route if Northern Sea Wolf requires more work. Northern Adventure serves the Prince Rupert-Haidi Gwaii route in the summer.
B.C. Ferries is taking bookings based on the 16-vehicle capacity of Nimpkish, but not on the 35-vehicle capacity of Northern Sea Wolf. A wait-list has been created up to the capacity of the larger vessel. Names on the wait-list will be converted to confirmed bookings once testing is finished on Northern Sea Wolf.
“The demand for bookings is strong on this route,” Humphries said. “There is wait-list space available on most sailings, which as explained will be converted to confirmed bookings in mid-April once the Northern Sea Wolf testing is complete.”
This uncertainty has led to the cancelling of some bookings, Kennedy said. January is typically a busy time of year for bookings, particularly from international tourists. Some are going elsewhere while other visitors are scrapping ferry plans because of uncertainty and instead planning to drive to and from Bella Coola out of Williams Lake, she said.
Their own bookings have been “pretty good” for this year, but the uncertainty is an inconvenience, she said. Among tourism operators, there is anger and confusion with the ferry situation, Kennedy said.
