Salish-class ferry

The Salish-class vessels are three intermediate ferries operated by BC Ferries and were built in 2016 at Remontowa Shipbuilding S.A. in Gdansk, Poland. They were the first dual-fuel powered vessels in British Columbia service, capable of using liquified natural gas or diesel oil to  operate. Salish Orca entered service on the Comox-Powell River route in May 2017. Salish Eagle entered service on the Tsawwassen-Southern Gulf Islands route in June 2017. Salish Raven entered service for the Southern Gulf Islands on August 3, 2017. These vessels replaced  and .

Description
The three Salish-class vessels, Salish Eagle, Salish Orca and Salish Raven have a displacement of  and all measure  and max . Salish-class vessels are  long overall and  between perpendiculars. The ferries have a beam of . They are powered by dual-fuel engines capable of using liquified natural gas (LNG) or diesel fuel to operate. The engines are rated at . They were the first vessels in British Columbia to be powered by LNG. They have a maximum speed of . Each ship has two car decks. They have capacity for 600 passengers and crew and 138 vehicles measuring . The ferries have several amenities aboard including a cafeteria, a gift shop and areas for children and pets.

Vessels

Service history
Constructed by Remontowa Shipbuilding S.A. in Gdansk, Poland, the three vessels of the Salish class were ordered as replacements for the older  and . Salish Orca was the first to complete in  November 2016 and entered service on May 15, 2017. Salish Eagle was completed in February 2017 and entered service in June. Salish Raven was completed in April 2017 and entered service ahead of schedule on August 3, 2017 after Queen of Nanaimo had significant mechanical issues preventing the ship from continued service. Salish Raven and Salish Eagle sail on the Southern Gulf Islands–Tsawwassen route. Sailish Orca sails on the Powell River–Comox route. A fourth Salish-class vessel will be built to replace  on the Swartz Bay-Outer Gulf islands route (route 5A). On November 1, 2019, Remontowa Shipbuilding signed a contract with BC Ferries to build a fourth Salish-class vessel.

Shortly after entering service, the Salish-class vessels experienced several problems, the first problem was there was no galley ventilation system, at times the cafeteria's kitchen would reach extreme temperatures, making it unsafe for crews to work in the kitchen. In early 2018, all three Salish-class vessels had the galley ventilation system installed, fixing the issue. The ships external doors and elevators were also known to frequently break down, this issue has been partially resolved.

On September 4, 2018, while Salish Eagle was docking at Sturdies Bay, the senior master misjudged the vessels speed and hit the dock harder than normal, no damage to the ship was done, and no one was injured, but there were supposedly big scratch marks alongside the berth walls.

On November 7, 2019, Salish Raven suffered a malfunction in one of its propellers at roughly 9:30am after leaving Pender Island. A tugboat arrived to aid the ferry and all its passengers were disembarked by 1:30 pm. The vessel resumed sailing later that day.

References 

Category:Ships of BC Ferries
Category:Ferry classes