MV ''Queen of Surrey'' is a double-ended

roll-on/roll-off Roll-on/roll-off (RORO or ro-ro) ships are cargo ships designed to carry wheeled cargo, such as cars, motorcycles, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, buses, trailers, and railroad cars, that are driven on and off the ship on their own wheels or using ...

ferry A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi ...

in the

BC Ferries British Columbia Ferry Services Inc., operating as BC Ferries (BCF), is a former provincial Crown corporation, now operating as an independently managed, publicly owned Canadian company. BC Ferries provides all major passenger and vehicle ferry ...

fleet. The ship was launched in 1980 and entered service in 1981. The ferry normally operates on BC Ferries' Horseshoe Bay to

Langdale Great Langdale is a valley in the Lake District National Park in North West England, the epithet Great distinguishing it from the neighbouring valley of Little Langdale. Langdale is also the name of a valley in the Howgill Fells, elsewhere in ...

route. She is named for the city of

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

. On May 12, 2003, ''Queen of Surrey'' suffered an engine fire that disabled the ferry in

Howe Sound Howe Sound (french: Baie (de /d')Howe, squ, Átl'ka7tsem, Nexwnéwu7ts, Txwnéwu7ts) is a roughly triangular sound, that joins a network of fjords situated immediately northwest of Vancouver, British Columbia. It was designated as a UNESCO Biosph ...

. No one was injured and the ship was returned to service. In 2004, the ferry was involved in a collision with a

tugboat A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, su ...

, and in 2019 she struck a fixed structure at the Langdale terminal. The 2019 crash lead to passengers being stranded on the vessel for over ten hours.

Description

''Queen of Surrey'' is a double-ended

ferry that was

long overall __NOTOC__ Length overall (LOA, o/a, o.a. or oa) is the maximum length of a vessel's hull measured parallel to the waterline. This length is important while docking the ship. It is the most commonly used way of expressing the size of a ship, an ...

and

between perpendiculars Length between perpendiculars (often abbreviated as p/p, p.p., pp, LPP, LBP or Length BPP) is the length of a ship along the summer load line from the forward surface of the stem, or main bow perpendicular member, to the after surface of the stern ...

with a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...

of , a gross register tonnage (GRT) of 6,969 and a

deadweight tonnage Deadweight tonnage (also known as deadweight; abbreviated to DWT, D.W.T., d.w.t., or dwt) or tons deadweight (DWT) is a measure of how much weight a ship can carry. It is the sum of the weights of cargo, fuel, fresh water, ballast water, provi ...

(DWT) of 1,099 as built. The ship has a maximum draught of . As of 2018 the vessel was remeasured with a

gross tonnage Gross tonnage (GT, G.T. or gt) is a nonlinear measure of a ship's overall internal volume. Gross tonnage is different from gross register tonnage. Neither gross tonnage nor gross register tonnage should be confused with measures of mass or weigh ...

(GT) of 6,968.91, a net tonnage of 4,473.47 with a length of , a beam of and a depth of . ''Queen of Surrey'' is propelled by two

MaK Mak may refer to: People *Mak Dizdar (1917 - 1971), Bosnian poet *Muhammad Arshad Khan, Pakistani painter popularly known as "MAK" *Alan Mak (director) (born 1968), Hong Kong film director *Alan Mak (politician) (born 1984), British Member of Par ...

12M551AK

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-call ...

s rated at driving two

propeller A propeller (colloquially often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon ...

s, one forward and one aft. This gives the vessel a maximum speed of . The ship has a capacity of 308 cars and 1,494 passengers and crew. In place of individual cars, ''Queen of Surrey'' is capable of loading twelve

semi-trailer truck A semi-trailer truck, also known as a semitruck, (or semi, eighteen-wheeler, big rig, tractor-trailer or, by synecdoche, a semitrailer) is the combination of a tractor unit and one or more semi-trailers to carry freight. A semi-trailer ...

s. The vehicle deck is divided into three sections with two longitudinal casings. The deck has of headroom. Four lanes in the centre of the deck can be used by trucks or cars, while two outboards lanes and two lanes on the gallery deck are for cars only, and reached by fixed ramps. On the upper deck, there are eight lanes for cars, reached only from a shore-based ramp. Amenities aboard the ferry include a Coastal Cafe, Coast Cafe Express, gift shop, kids zone, video zone, pet area, elevators and accessible washrooms.

Mid-life upgrade

In 2006, ''Queen of Surrey'' underwent a $40 million mid-life upgrade iat the

Washington Marine Group Seaspan ULC (formerly Seaspan Marine Corporation) provides marine-related services to the Pacific Northwest. Within the Group are three shipyards, an intermodal ferry and car float business, and also a tug and barge transportation company that ...

's Vancouver Drydock in North Vancouver. The project prepared the vessel for another 20 years of service with significant mechanical and safety improvements, as well as upgraded passenger amenities and the installation of new emergency evacuation equipment. Major work included steel replacement, electrical upgrades, and modernization of elevators, heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems. Remodelled and expanded areas included the gift shop, food service facilities, washrooms, and seating areas.

Construction and career

The vessel was ordered in May 1979, and constructed by Burrard Yarrows Corporation at their yard in North Vancouver, British Columbia and given the

yard number __NOTOC__ M ...

100. The ferry cost US$29.0 million to build. ''Queen of Surrey'' was launched on August 27, 1980, and delivered to BC Ferries in April 1981. The vessel was assigned the Horseshoe Bay to

route. On May 12, 2003, the vessel was disabled in

as a result of a

diesel oil Diesel fuel , also called diesel oil, is any liquid fuel specifically designed for use in a diesel engine, a type of internal combustion engine in which fuel ignition takes place without a spark as a result of compression of the inlet air and t ...

fire in the No.2 engine room. '' Queen of Capilano'' was sent to aid the damaged vessel and tethered to ''Queen of Surrey'' while

s were dispatched. The vessel was then towed back to shore. None of the 318 passengers were injured, but several crew members were treated for minor injuries. Some buckling of the main car deck resulted from the heat of the fire. However, no vehicles were damaged in the incident. Inferior copper piping and the removal of a heat shield in the engine room were identified as the main causes of the fire. She returned to service on July 17, 2003. On July 31, 2003, the vessel experienced a mechanical problem with one of her propellers. As a result, she was removed from service for emergency dry-docking to facilitate repairs, which took about five days. On January 11, 2004, ''Queen of Surrey'' collided with the tugboat ''Charles H. Cates V'' at Horseshoe Bay, trapping the tugboat between the ferry and the dock. ''Charles H. Cates V'' sustained significant damage, but made it to

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

Harbour to undergo repairs. In October 2005, the ferry collided with the dock at

Tsawwassen Tsawwassen ( ) is a suburban, mostly residential community on a peninsula in the southwestern corner of the City of Delta in British Columbia, Canada. It provides the only road access to the American territory on the southern tip of the peninsul ...

, British Columbia after the

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

misjudged the wind and tides. In 2006 the ferry underwent a mid-life upgrade. She returned to service on June 27, 2006. On September 8, 2010, thieves attempted to steal an

automated teller machine An automated teller machine (ATM) or cash machine (in British English) is an electronic telecommunications device that enables customers of financial institutions to perform financial transactions, such as cash withdrawals, deposits, fun ...

(ATM) from the ferry while ''Queen of Surrey'' was docked overnight at

Gibsons, British Columbia Gibsons is a coastal community of 4,605 in southwestern British Columbia, Canada on the Strait of Georgia. Although it is on the mainland, the Sunshine Coast is not accessible by road. Vehicle access is by BC Ferries from Horseshoe Bay in West ...

. During the attempted theft, the thieves dropped the ATM into the water. The ATM was later recovered. On June 30, 2017, the ferry suffered minor damage after a driver drove their

Chevrolet Blazer The Chevrolet Blazer is an automobile nameplate used by General Motors for its Chevrolet brand since 1969 for several SUV models: * Full-size Chevrolet K5 Blazer, based on the C/K pickup chassis and built from 1969 to 1995 (renamed Blazer in 1992 ...

SUV A sport utility vehicle (SUV) is a car classification that combines elements of road-going passenger cars with features from off-road vehicles, such as raised ground clearance and four-wheel drive. There is no commonly agreed-upon definitio ...

through the dock gates and launched the vehicle onto the ferry's car deck. On March 26, 2019 ''Queen of Surrey'' missed the berth at Langdale terminal and struck the Stormaway dock. The vessel then became stuck and was subsequently incapable of disembarking the passengers and vehicles aboard. A tugboat was called to assist the ferry in maneuvering to the terminal to allow foot and vehicle passenger to disembark after being stuck for nearly ten hours. The vessel was eventually dislodged from the terminal after part of the lower car deck was cut away.

References

External links

West Coast Ferries: ''Queen of Surrey''

''Queen of Surrey'' photo gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Queen of Surrey, MV C-class ferries 1981 ships Ships built in British Columbia