Northern Sea Wolf sits out the fall, as BC Ferries outlines Central Coast plans

Almost ready for trials, the Northern Sea Wolf is in its final stage
of major upgrades, a process that has put the timeline for the vessel
significantly behind schedule for completion
(BC Government photo)

With the summer travel season nearing its end, BC Ferries has updated residents of the Central Coast and Northern Vancouver Island with their transit plan for the fall and winter months.

Starting October 12th and through until the spring of 2019 service on the Mid Coast Connector service will be provided by the MV Nimpkish, which is a change from the original plan of introducing the Northern Sea Wolf into service this month and will mean a reduced level of capacity for the route from what the new vessel would have provided for.

In the interim period since mid September, the Northern Adventure has been handling the duties of providing service for the route, it will now head off for its annual maintenance requirements.

BC Ferries has taken note of the impact that the delay in introducing the Northern Sea Wolf service has had in the Port Hardy and Bella Coola region and to redress that in part, they have announced a few service improvements for the Central Coast for next year.

Travel for all vehicles and passengers on the Nimpkish between the Mid-Coast ports will be at no charge through to March 31, 2019. 

To book your travel, they ask that you call the BC Ferries Customer Service Centre at 1-888-223-3779. Priority will be given to customers who have already requested reservations, and standard cancellation rates apply.

As for the direct summer service between Port Hardy and Bella Coola it will now run from June 3 through October 10, 2019. 

That schedule modification will extend the previously planned summer 2019 schedule by 10 sailings at the beginning and 8 sailings at the end. Those sailing schedules will be posted on bcferries.com in the upcoming weeks.

BC Ferries also plans to work with regional destination marketing organizations on Vancouver Island and the Chilcotin Cariboo to market this 2019 direct summer service.

Premier John Horgan and North Coast MLA Jennifer Rice on a tour of the
Northern Sea Wolf in May, neither has had much to say in the four months since
about the delay of the introduction of the vessel into service
(BC Government photo) 

When it comes to the current status of the Sea Wolf, BC Ferries notes that the major upgrade to the vessel is nearing completion, with the vessel having been moved to the BC Ferries refit facility in Richmond in September for the finishing work.

The timeline for the vessel will see Transport Canada drills and inspections taking place shortly, with the vessel then to complete its dock trials at the Mid Coast ports this fall.

BC Ferries plans to advise those communities that the vessel will be serving as it makes those dock trials, allowing residents of the region to get their first look at the vessel.

BC Ferries did not add much to the background from its original comments of May, as to why the project had fallen off the original timeline and what elements of the major upgrade provided the most troubles in meeting the original plan of a summer 2018 launch for the service.

As part of the plan to introduce the Northern Sea Wolf into service, BC Ferries also has completed 10 million dollars worth of upgrades to the ferry berths at Ocean Falls, Bella Coola, Shearwater and Bella Bella as part of the program.

You can review the full announcement from BC Ferries here.

For more items of interest related to BC Ferries see our archive page here.

Cross posted from the North Coast Review