AllYourCrewReductions
'RUsVille
Commenting on our previous post about the eight figure offshore expenditure to come to fix-up the made-in-BC Spirit class boats, long time reader (and musical maestro) Scotty on Denman filled us in on the latest regarding that new cable ferry to Hornby Island that not all of (none?) of the locals are all that thrilled about:
...(A)friend whom I was to pick up on Denman after walking over on the "BS Connector" ( "BS" short for "Baynes Sound"---and other stuff) or, as we call it here, the "cable-ferry", was made to wait for a later run because there are not enough lifejackets to go around.
That's right, the new ferry which nobody here or Hornby Island approved of, the one which we and our fellow Hornby Islanders were assured would provide the same service as the previous, self-propelled HMS Quinitsa, has HALF the number of lifejackets, this in order to reduce the crew from six to three deckhands...
{snip}
...How did BCFS Inc slip this one past normally scrutinizing Islanders? The service which it promised would remain the same was expressed in numbers of cars, not passengers; thus, when, say, fifty cars with a driver and two passengers each is loaded (150 passengers), no walk-ons are allowed because it exceeds to number of lifejackets on board...
So.
Once again under the BC Liberals...
The more things change the worse they get for average British Columbians.
.
No the Autobahn doesn’t actually count
1 hour ago
5 comments:
I believe it has nothing to do with life jackets; that is a cover story.
The important thing is the crew member / passenger ratio, one that is policed by Transport Canada. BC Ferries cannot keep adding customers to a vessel if they don't have sufficient crew members to handle potential emergencies.
The present management has had a history of being less than truthful. Like their public announcement that two Spirit Class ships would undergo refits for $140 million, when they told the Ferry Commissioner work would cost $219 million.
Like when the numbers they reported about management remuneration didn't accord with their own financial records.
Thumb in the eye of BC taxpayers
And, when CEO Corrigan lied on radio when he said about gift shop profitability, "We're seeing double digit increases year over year."
Lying like a cheap rug
In other BC Ferries spin... "BCs Newest Ferries will be covered in First Nations Art"
Kind of ironic that there was so much gushing positive excitement and coverage on the wrapper and very little analysis on the fact that the actual ships were built outside of BC. Foreign (Polish) built by TFWs (totally foreign workers) and not even a photo op for the White Hard Hat Pirate Princess.
Full credit for the FN art work... but no credit for going overseas for the construction. My guess - it is more than lack of available build yard and manpower that sent the work overseas. More likely some advantages for the Liberals such as less transparency, terms, bond financing, maybe even some contract backscratching. When the 90's NDP built the fast ferries the flotsam media were all battle stations and guns on deck and to this day they continue to keel haul the 'fast cats fiasco' rather than the current fat cats.
Another mistruth from CEO Corrigan, probably even more consequential:
Dots that may connect - UPDATED
"Ferry corporation VP Mike Corrigan, its current CEO, claimed in 2004 that BC shipyards were only qualified to build small open-deck boats for short routes. That claim had already been proven false by Spirit Class vessels and by the subsequent federal decision to award BC shipbuilders an $8-billion contract for seven non-combat ships, an average of $1.15 billion each."
"Musical maestro"?
Gosh, that's a lot of faith. And that's what I live on.
So I guess that means we (I'm never without significant assistance) gotta pen the "Ballad of the BS Connector"...which I hope is every bit as good---and hopefully a lot better---than "Ginger Goodwin Way." (Unfortunately the antagonist in that ballad had recently passed away and the number was withdrawn for the sake of his family who, we believe, had nothing to do with his political perfidy regards the dearly departed Mr Goodwin---that is, the petty removal of the sign marking the stretch of new Island Highway dedicated to the legendary union organizer, assassinated several decades previously. 's alright, we can dust it off at a more appropriate time.)
Thnx again, Ross.
PS Our latest effort now, as of Odin's Day last, wends its way through the mix-master-printer, and I'll be sure get one to ya somehow.
S
Polish shipyard might not finish new ferries for Estonia by deadline.
TS Laevad has got doubts that the Polish Remontowa shipyard will be able to finish the two ferries it is building for the company on time and has therefore put together risk scenarios and will next week make a trip to Poland to inspect the progress,
http://www.baltic-course.com/eng/transport/?doc=119196
Where are the BC Ferries in the line-up?
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