Because the Premier hates BC, obviously.
Because BC doesn’t have the capacity to build ships of the same quality anymore, and bringing of the whole made in BC argument is BS. Example, look into the building of the Island Sky, a new smaller ship that BC ferries DID have built in BC last year. AGAIN, overtime and over budget. wtf would BC ferries want to spend double or triple their money just so that they could support BC shipbuilders? I could understand if they could have made the Expedition in BC for say $150 million on time and on budget, but not 200 or 300 million. BC ferries is a private company now and as such actually has to take a bottom line into account. Why should they be paying boatloads of money to bc shipbuilders in order to make a low quality product? Do you actually think that the fastcats, with all the money the gov’t spent, actually had an overall positive effect on the economy?
It doesn’t have the capacity to build these ships, anymore, because we keep helping Germany with their capacity instead.
Over budget? Then why is it ok to have the convention centre over budget? Why isn’t that made in Germany?
BC Ferries is a “private” corporation like Citywest is a “private” corporation. It isn’t.
[quote=“MiG”]
Then why is it ok to have the convention centre over budget? Why isn’t that made in Germany?[/quote]
Seriously? You’re just grasping for straws now because you disagree with the guy. This example makes no sense at all.
Makes sense to me.
How much is the convention centre over budget? Why is that good for BC?
The point is that the BC Liberals (including the local Rupert branch, who insist on the “shop local” mantra) are all about “do as we say, not as we do.”
The fast ferries worked just fine.
However running machines faster is less fuel efficient.
And faster means the wash rocks the yachts of the people who hate the NDPs guts and have the means to do something about it.
Did BC get that GST/Import duty exemption on the ferries? If so, we’re bragging about ripping off the rest of Canada. If not, we lost out on remittances that would have been due for making it here.
Canada has no business building fighter planes.
BC doesn’t make good ships.
N American cars aren’t as good as foreign ones.
Seems to be a recurring theme of the right that we can’t, shouldn’t, aren’t allowed to be real people.
Seems that trying to tie Carol James to fast ferries and Iggy to Adscam is a good indication they can’t move on after succesfully purging any Progressives. Bye bye Gord & Judy, Farell-Collins and Christy Clark, John Charest and Joe Who…
From wikipedia.
High fuel consumption. The four 8,375 brake horsepower (6.2 MW) engines driving their waterjets required an inordinate amount of diesel fuel and had to be used at 90% power for cruise speed, making them prone to breakdown. This was largely due to BC Ferries’ insistence on using diesel engines rather than the more efficient gas turbines that were originally planned.
Due to an unusually wet and windy winter, there was a higher than normal amount of flotsam in the waters along the route, some of which was sucked into impellers for the ferries’ engines, causing breakdowns and sailing cancellations.
When operated at full speed, the Pacificat fleet created a wake which was reported to have damaged waterfront wharves and property in coastal areas near the two terminals. This required that the ferries reduce speed in certain areas and alter course in others, reducing their speed advantage.
The air on vehicle decks became uncomfortably warm, either from the heat of the vessel engines or lack of air circulation. This made some people wary of bringing pets aboard the FastCats; however, the ferries had kennels with improved air circulation at the bow and stern of the vehicle decks.
There was little outside deck space for passengers. The existing ferries had large decks, and it was common for passengers to spend the entire sailing circling the decks of the ship or sunbathing on the lifejacket containers.
The ships had a more modern, European-style interior which was perceived by passengers as being cramped compared to the existing ferries.
Loading took longer than the older ferries due to balancing issues. This further negated the ships’ speed advantage.
Sounds like more than just a fuel consumption issue to me. and the problem with North American Car companies is that they have lost their competitive edge, basically the same problem with BC shipbuilding industry. Why should the government and BC ferries keep propping up the shipbuilding industry?
Very few Shipbuilding nations have shipyards that operate with out some kind of subsidy or supporting legislation. Thatcher eliminated all support for the Britsih Shipbuiding industry and effectively killed it. The US has the Jones Act which protects the US Shipbuilders by legislating that exported US goods are shipped on US bottoms.
Germany, Norway,Italy, Spain, Taiwan, Singapore, Korea plus some that I can’t think of right now, all subsidize their shipyards.
The theory (rationale) subscribed to by all these nations is the “Economic Generator” argument mentioned here many times,that is, wages paid and spent in an economy outwiegh the subsidy.
What you cite are ‘design’ problems not ‘quality of build’ problems. I don’t think there is any dispute that the fastcats were poorly designed. But shipbuilders build to the design they are given. As for ‘propping up’ the shipbuilding industry, was the Harper government mistaken when it awarded a $351 million contract to the BC shipbuilding industry to modernize the Halifax class frigates? Hardly a low-tech job by the way. Or would you prefer that the socialists in Ottawa put that money and the economic spin-offs into another country’s economy because our industry obviously cannot do the job?
You’re arguing semantics. When you’re in the service industry design issues act the same as quality issues. Bottom line: Are we using the ferries right now? No. Why? Because they were built badly for what they were supposed to do. Did we get a decent amount back when we sold them? Not even close.
And Mig, no one ever suggests buying locally when you can’t get what you want, for a reasonable price, without any hassle. I have a feeling that if the Northern Expedition had been built in BC and had been behind schedule and way over budget like Krissy suggests, you’d be complaining they didn’t have it built elsewhere. 'Cuz the Germans make good stuff, right?
[quote=“eccentric”]
You’re arguing semantics. When you’re in the service industry design issues act the same as quality issues. [/quote]
I think you need to look up the word semantics. Design and build have different meanings. They don’t mean the same thing.
No, but we are using other ferries built in BC. Including some of those other big ones.
Another quote for the eccentric file. I’ll bring it up next time a local BC Liberal goes on a “shop local” rant again.
Do as we say, not as we do.
Yes, you really should look up ‘semantics’, and also ‘design’ and ‘build’ because they are two different functions. You are merging unrelated players together as “the service industry”.
The PacifiCats were not even designed by a Canadian company let alone a BC company. They were designed by Incat Designs which is an Australian company (large catamarans are operated ‘down under’ both as ferries and by the Royal Australian Navy as transports). The government and BC Ferries set up a Crown corporation, Catamaran Ferries International, to manage the project … established BC shipyards didn’t design the cats or manage the project.
As I said, in this specific case design and quality end up being the same monster. We just disagree in that interpretation, which means we’re arguing semantics.
Semantics: the meaning, or an interpretation of the meaning, of a word, sign, sentence
But then again, you think rent and own are the same thing–so it might not be a great idea for us to debate the meanings of words.
And again–shop locally when it makes sense. If you want to buy a car and our local dealerships are willing to order it so that it gets here quickly, and so long as it’s roughly the same price–buy the thing in Rupert. Keep the money local. If you’re trying to buy that same car but the dealership in town quotes you a more expensive price than Terrace and it’ll take two months to get here–buy the thing in Terrace.
Use common sense, even if sometimes because they’re worried about their own livelihood local business people might not.
[quote=“eccentric”]
As I said, in this specific case design and quality end up being the same monster. We just disagree in that interpretation, which means we’re arguing semantics.[/quote]
He’s talking about the building of the ferries in BC, and you’re talking about the design of the ferries in Australia. They’re not the same. It’s not semantics. Designing a thing and building it are different, and in this case they were done in different countries.
Cheap. You think that renting a movie for 1 night is the same as leasing a river for 40 years, so it might not be a great idea for us to debate the meanings of words.
The Germans do make good stuff. In fact they make Sham… naw, forget it.
But there is a reason that nation leads the world in exports. We all talk about looking at China and buying goods from them, but the Germans have perfected that art of export. And they spent 40 of the last 60 years as a divided country! Think about what would happen if the province (divided only on partisan lines and not by machine guns) here spent more time developing value added goods for provincial consumption. Think how rich some business-types would be.
Hell if Vince Shlomi can sell a yellow rag for big bucks, then why not BC? Ferries, wood products, cpu games and, hopefully, green products that revolutionize the global economy.
Instead our focus has been on selling low-grade/ resource-simple products, and we end up continuing the same old Hudson Bay mentality this nation was born with… not a very mature approach to global economics.
The only reason this nation stands above 3rd world status is a close affiliation with two empires: UK and US. Without their investment in our big urban centres, I can guarantee you this country would be Toronto and a bunch of mole hills.
Make no mistake. The NE is a wonderful looking ship, highly pleasing to the tourist set and the province will make great use of the boat. But that doesn’t mean British Columbians on the whole got the best out of the deal.
As a seafaring province, one would think that time and effort would have been put into keeping the construct of these ships in “the best place on earth”. Value added goods= wealthy employees= disposable incomes= small business success.
Unless of course one likes seeing Brads closed on a sunny Sunday afternoon in Port Ed.
further,Countries I left out in my original post,Finland,Poland, Japan and the Netherlands as do the above mentioned Shipyard industries recive app. 6% subsidies, plus assistance with funding for research and delvopment
Well we are just splitting hairs here since we all have very opposing views on the issue.
And stalling on the Electoral Reform issue, because it’s as good as dead in our lifetimes.
We had our chance and most of us didn’t even turn up.
And the parties in power all realize keeping you scared shitless keeps them in power.
yeah it was a pretty sad turnout rate. I guess most people are happy with the status quo or just completely uninterested.
At times I don’t blame them because nothing ever really changes…