The Burrard Otter II is on its way!
The Burrard Otter II is on its way!
UPDATE: The Burrard Otter II is getting closer! To track the cargo ship that it’s on, click here.
Hi Buzzer readers,
As you may remember, the new SeaBus, the Burrard Otter II, is on its way and it will arrive in the Burrard Inlet very soon. The vessel goes into service this fall and we’re excited to welcome it to our fleet!
How do you ship a ship?
The Burrard Otter II finished sea trials in Singapore this past June and the next step was getting the vessel ready for its journey here. As powerful and tough as our SeaBuses are a trip from Singapore to Vancouver is a bit more than they are designed for so the Burrard Otter II was loaded onto a heavylift carrier. It’s been on a cargo ship making its way here since July 7.
Here are some photos to show you what’s involved in getting a SeaBus onto a cargo ship:
What happens once the Burrard Otter II arrives?
The reverse process will happen once the Burrard Otter II arrives in Vancouver.
After the vessel is in local waters, it will go through some additional sea trials, and SeaBus employees will be trained on it. You can expect to see the Burrard Otter II out and about during August and September, and it will be ready for regular SeaBus operations later this fall.
Stay tuned for updates!
We’ll be sure to update you once the vessel has arrived, so stay tuned for more pictures!
Author: Jennifer Morland
Geez, they’re building the real things faster than my 1:350 scale version! Link from several years ago: http://buzzer.translink.ca/2011/02/links-and-tidbits-for-thu-feb-24-2011/
Plus:
1) Windows on the Otter 2 are bigger than on the Pacific Breeze.
2) I like the overall external look.
Minus:
1) Don’t like the name.
2) Puzzled about the seats provided for the vessel. Wondering if they can last long.
Thanks for your comments, @Elfren! We’re very proud of the new SeaBus and we’re happy to hear you like the external look and some of the new features like the larger windows!
The vessel is named Burrard Otter II as an homage to the original Burrard Otter which was built in 1976 and has reached the end of its useful life.
While everybody has a different opinion about the comfort of a particular type of seat, this time we have used proper bus-industry seats (USSC CitiPro), rather than trying to make something from the marine industry work for our purposes. The seats are covered in the standard shiny-textured waterproof vinyl that you’ve seen in our newer buses, so they are easily cleaned, and you can see if anything’s been spilled on them. Another advantage of the new seating is that we were able to install flip-up seats in the front and rear corners of the vessel. Flip-up seats are normally used on our buses to make space for wheelchairs and mobility-assist devices. On the new SeaBus, there is ample space for scooters and wheelchairs, so the flip-up seats make extra space that can be used for bicycle storage!
UPDATE: The Burrard Otter II is getting closer! To track the cargo ship that it’s on, follow this link – http://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/details/ships/305865000
another update – the Burrard Otter II has arrived, I think they should have it offloaded from BBC Vesuvius by either tonight or tomorrow. :)
@Bailey thanks for the update! It has arrived indeed, and will be offloaded very soon! We’ll update you once it hits our BC waters :)
so nice to see that our own government doesn’t support our own ship builders in BC, well like the saying goes, first they came for the ship builders and we did nothing, then they came for the……………
@jawnie – a fair and open public competitive bid process was held before the contract was awarded. Damen Shipyards Group of The Netherlands was chosen to build the Burrard Otter II in Singapore following this bid process which compared cost, experience and track record. At just over $22 million, the Burrard Otter II will cost about $2 million less than the locally made Burrard Pacific Breeze which was launched back in December 2009.
@ jawnie
Translink doesn’t need to support the ship building industry. As long as they do this in an open manner that allows the local industry to compete fairly, then Translink did its job.
With the money that they save, they can do something creative, like supporting the transit industry; you know, by hiring more bus drivers. $2,000,000 hires a lot of bus drivers for a year.