name bc ferries type organized as a privately held company with the provincial crown as sole shareholder industry transportation founded victoria british columbia june 15 1960 headquarters victoria british columbia canada key people donald p. hayes chair michael corrigan president & ceo products ferry service revenue c 786.3 million 2013 1 operating income c 84.8 million 2013 1 net income c 15.5 million 2013 1 owner bc ferry authority government of british columbia number of employees 3 153 2005 website www.bcferries.com british columbia ferry services inc. operating as bc ferries bcf is a former provincial crown corporation now operating as an independently managed publicly owned company . bc ferries provides all major passenger and vehicle ferry services for coastal and island communities in the canadian province of british columbia . set up in 1960 to provide a similar service to that provided by the black ball line and the canadian pacific railway which were affected by job action at the time bc ferries has become the largest passenger ferry line in north america and the second largest in the world 2 boasting a fleet of 36 vessels with a total passenger and crew capacity of over 27 000 serving 49 locations on the b.c. coast . as bc ferries provides an essential link from mainland british columbia to the various islands and parts of the mainland without road access on its routes it is subsidized by the government of british columbia 151 million in the 2011 fiscal year and the government of canada 27 million in the 2011 fiscal year . 3 the inland ferries operating on british columbia s rivers and lakes are not run by bc ferries . the responsibility for their provision rests with the british columbia ministry of transportation which contracts operation to various private sector companies . contents 1 history 2 current routes 2.1 list 2.2 maps 3 fleet 3.1 current vessels 3.2 former vessels 4 accidents and incidents 4.1 queen of victoria 4.2 queen of alberni 4.3 queen of cowichan 4.4 queen of saanich 4.5 queen of nanaimo 4.6 queen of new westminster 4.7 mayne queen 4.8 spirit of vancouver island 4.9 queen of surrey 4.10 queen of oak bay 4.11 queen of the north 4.12 quinsam 4.13 coastal inspiration 5 in film 6 see also 6.1 shipyards 7 notes 8 references 8.1 press releases 9 external links history edit in the late 1950s a strike by employees of the black ball line caused the social credit government of w. a. c. bennett to decide that the coastal ferry service in b.c. needed to be government owned and so it set about creating bc ferries . minister of highways phil gaglardi was tasked with overseeing the new crown corporation and its rapid expansion . tsawwassen terminal was constructed by filling in a large area at the end of a causeway tollbooths at tsawwassen terminal a bc ferries loading dock berth 4 at tsawwassen terminal final loading of cars onto a ferry bc ferries first route commissioned in 1960 was between swartz bay north of sidney on vancouver island and tsawwassen a part of the corporation of delta using just two vessels . these ships were the now retired mv tsawwassen and the mv sidney . the next few years saw a dramatic growth of the b.c. ferry system as it took over operations of the black ball line and other major private companies providing vehicle ferry service between vancouver island and the lower mainland . as the ferry system expanded and started to service other small coastal communities bc ferries had to build more vessels many of them in the first five years of its operations to keep up with the demand . another method of satisfying increasing demand for service was bc ferries unique stretch and lift program involving seven vessels being cut in half and extended and five of those vessels later cut in half again and elevated to increase their passenger and vehicle carrying capacities . the vast majority of the vessels in the fleet were built in b.c. waters with only two foreign purchases and one domestic purchase . in the mid 1980s bc ferries took over the operations of the saltwater branch of the b.c. ministry of transportation and highways which ran ferry services to very small coastal communities . this action dramatically increased the size of bc ferries fleet and its geographical service area . the distinctive dogwood on green flag that bc ferries used between 1960 and 2003 gave the service its popular nickname the dogwood fleet . at its inception bc ferries was a division of the british columbia toll highways and bridges authority a provincial crown corporation . through successive reorganizations it evolved into the british columbia ferry authority and then the british columbia ferry corporation both of which were also provincial crown corporations . in 2003 the government of british columbia announced that bc ferries which had been in debt would be reorganized into a private corporation implemented through the passage of the coastal ferry act 4 bill 18 2003 . the single voting share of bc ferries corporation is held by the provincial government s bc ferry authority which operates under the rules of the act . during the 1990s the ndp government commissioned a series of three fast ferries to improve ferry service between the mainland and vancouver island . the ships proved problematic when they suffered many technical issues and cost double what was expected . the fast ferries were eventually sold off for 19.4 million in 2003 . a controversy began in july 2004 when bc ferries under a new american ceo announced that the company had disqualified all canadian bids to build three new coastal class ships and only the proposals from european shipyards were being considered . the contract is estimated at 542 million for the three ships which are each designed to carry 370 vehicles and 1600 passengers . the argument for domestic construction of the ferries is that it would employ numerous british columbia workers revitalize the sagging b.c. shipbuilding industry and entitle the provincial government to a large portion of the cost in the form of taxes . bc ferries ceo david hahn claimed that building the ferries in germany would save almost 80 million and could lead to lower fares . 5 on september 17 2004 bc ferries awarded 6 the vessel construction contract to germany s flensburger shipyard . the contract protects bc ferries from any delays through a fixed price and fixed schedule contract . coastal renaissance entered service in march 2008 while coastal inspiration was delivered the same month and entered service in june . the third ship coastal celebration has been delivered and is now in service as well . on august 18 2006 bc ferries commissioned 7 flensburger to build a new vessel for its inside passage route with the contract having many of the same types of terms as that for the coastal class vessels . the new northern service vessel northern expedition has been delivered . in fiscal year 2011 bc ferries reported a loss of 16.5 million due to declining ridership with vehicle traffic dropping 3.5 % and passenger traffic dropping 2.8 % . increased fares were to blame for the drop in ridership and warnings came that there would likely be cutbacks in the service on a number of its routes in order to reduce costs . 8 on august 26 2012 bc ferries announced that it would be cutting 98 round trips on its major routes starting in the fall and winter of 2012 as part of a four year plan to save 1 million on these routes . service cuts have included the elimination of supplementary sailings on the swartz bay tsawwassen route 18 round trips on the horseshoe bay departure bay route and 48 round trips the largest number of cuts on the duke point tsawwassen route with plans to look for savings on the smaller unprofitable routes in the future . 9 on november 20 2012 bc ferry services was listed as the 90th most profitable company in bc with a net income of 3 781 000 in 2011 and 3 422 000 in 2010 . 10 a year later on november 20 2013 the government of british columbia announced plans to eliminate a program that gave free ferry trips to seniors make major cuts to service on smaller more remote routes and undertake a pilot project that would introduce slot machines on ships serving the tsawwassen swartz bay route . 11 in the fall of 2014 bc ferries announced the addition of three new intermediate class ferries to phase out the queen of burnaby and the queen of nanaimo . 12 13 current routes edit list edit route numbers are used internally by bc ferries . all routes allow vehicles unless stated otherwise . route 1 georgia strait south highway 17 swartz bay to tsawwassen route 2 georgia strait central highway 1 nanaimo via departure bay to horseshoe bay route 3 howe sound langdale to horseshoe bay route 4 satellite channel swartz bay to saltspring island at fulford harbour route 5 swanson channel swartz bay to the southern gulf islands galiano mayne pender and saturna islands route 6 south stuart channel crofton to saltspring island at vesuvius route 7 jervis inlet highway 101 earls cove to saltery bay route 8 queen charlotte channel horseshoe bay to bowen island via snug cove route 9 active pass shuttle tsawwassen to saltspring island and the southern gulf islands listed above in route 5 route 10 inside passage port hardy to prince rupert with stops at klemtu route 10 supplemental servicing bella bella shearwater ocean falls and bella coola as of mid 2014 route 11 hecate strait highway 16 prince rupert to haida gwaii via skidegate route 12 saanich inlet brentwood bay to mill bay route 13 thornbrough channel langdale to gambier island and keats island foot passengers only no vehicles route 17 georgia strait north powell river via westview to comox via little river route 18 malaspina strait powell river to texada island via blubber bay route 19 northumberland channel nanaimo harbour to gabriola island via descanso bay route 20 north stuart channel chemainus to thetis and penelakut islands route 21 baynes sound buckley bay to denman island via denman west route 22 lambert channel denman island via gravelly bay to hornby island via shingle spit route 23 discovery passage campbell river to quadra island via quathiaski cove route 24 sutil channel quadra island via heriot bay to cortes island via whaletown route 25 broughton strait port mcneill to alert bay on cormorant island and sointula on malcolm island route 26 skidegate inlet skidegate on graham island to alliford bay on moresby island route 30 mid island express highway 19 nanaimo via duke point to tsawwassen maps edit numbers in blue circles are ferry route numbers . provincial highway trailblazers are added where appropriate . zone 1 southern gulf islands zone 2 central georgia strait zone 3 northern georgia strait zone 4 queen charlotte sound zone 5 north coast fleet edit bc ferries mv coastal celebration docked at swartz bay british columbia terminal in may 2014 . spirit of british columbia is an s class ferry spirit of british columbia under construction at fraser surrey docks in september 1992 . coastal inspiration is a coastal class ferry . mayne queen is a powell river class ferry . northern expedition began service in 2009 replacing the mv queen of prince rupert . bc ferries has the largest fleet of vehicle ferry vessels in the world . there are 36 vessels ranging from small 16 car ferries up to 470 car superferries . all of the vessels in use by bc ferries are roll on roll off car ferries . most of the major vessels are based on similar designs which are aggregated into classes of ferries current vessels edit name class year built rebuilt