S-class ferries (also known as the Spirit class or Super ferries) are

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 ...

(RORO)

ferries 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 tax ...

operated by

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 ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, Canada. They are the largest ferries in the BC Ferries fleet. The class comprises two ships, and , which were completed in 1993 and 1994 respectively. They serve the ferry route between

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 ...

and

Swartz Bay Swartz Bay, located on the north end of the Saanich Peninsula on Vancouver Island, is primarily known for being the location of one of BC Ferries' main terminals, the Swartz Bay Ferry Terminal. Swartz Bay was named after John Aaron Swart, purchas ...

. In 2017, the class underwent conversion to a dual-fuel propulsion system that would allow them to use either marine diesel fuel or

liquefied natural gas Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled down to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the volu ...

Design and description

The S-class roll on/roll off ferries are the largest vessels in the

fleet. They are

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 . The vessels have a

displacement Displacement may refer to: Physical sciences Mathematics and Physics *Displacement (geometry), is the difference between the final and initial position of a point trajectory (for instance, the center of mass of a moving object). The actual path ...

of , an initial and . The gross tonnage later increased to 21,935 for ''Spirit of Vancouver'' and 21,958 for ''Spirit of British Columbia'' as of 2018. The vessels were initially powered by four

MAN A man is an adult male human. Prior to adulthood, a male human is referred to as a boy (a male child or adolescent). Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromos ...

6L40/54

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 driving two

shafts ''Shafts'' was an English feminist magazine produced by Margaret Sibthorp from 1892 until 1899. Initially published weekly and priced at one penny, its themes included votes for women, women's education, and radical attitudes towards vivisection, ...

creating . The ferries have a maximum speed of . In 2018, the ferries began a mid-life refit that involved changing the propulsion system to a dual-fuel system comprising four

Wärtsilä Wärtsilä Oyj Abp (), trading internationally as Wärtsilä Corporation, is a Finnish company which manufactures and services power sources and other equipment in the marine and energy markets. The core products of Wärtsilä include technol ...

34DF dual-fuel engines which allow the ships to use either

marine diesel oil Marine Diesel Oil (MDO) is a type of fuel oil and is a blend of gasoil and heavy fuel oil, with more gasoil than intermediate fuel oil used in the maritime field. Marine Diesel Oil is also called "Distillate Marine Diesel". MDO is widely used by med ...

to power the ship. Further changes include navigation and propulsion equipment, steering and evacuation systems, lighting and air conditioning. Passenger areas were upgraded including the lounges, bathrooms and retail areas. The ferries have capacity for 2,100 passengers and crew and 358 automobiles. The ferries are equipped with lounges and cafes.

Ships in class

History

The two ferries, ''Spirit of British Columbia'' and ''Spirit of Vancouver Island'', were constructed in two pieces. The ferries' foreparts were built by

Allied Shipbuilders Allied Shipbuilders Ltd is a privately held shipbuilding and ship repairing company established in Canada in 1948. Company profile Founded in 1948 by Arthur McLaren (1919-1999), Allied Shipbuilders is one of the older continually operatin ...

of North Vancouver, British Columbia. The rest of the ships was constructed by

Integrated Ferry 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 th ...

Esquimalt The Township of Esquimalt is a municipality at the southern tip of Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada. It is bordered to the east by the provincial capital, Victoria, British Columbia, Victoria, to the south by the Strait of Juan de ...

, British Columbia. The two sections were joined and ''Spirit of British Columbia'' was completed in February 1993, with ''Spirit of Vancouver Island'' completed in February 1994. ''Spirit of British Columbia'' was assigned to the

–

route and ''Spirit of Vancouver Island'' to the inverse Swartz Bay–Tsawwassen route. On September 14, 2000, ''Spirit of Vancouver Island'' collided with the ''Star Ruby'' while attempting to overtake the vessel in a narrow channel. The accident report found that pleasure craft had ignored all warnings of the impending collision. Two passengers aboard ''Star Ruby'' later died as a result of their injuries sustained by the collision. From 2005 to 2006, the S-class ferries underwent major refits. In 2017, it was announced that the two S-class ferries would undergo a $140 million conversion to a dual-fuel system to allow the vessels to use liquefied natural gas as fuel in an effort to reduce

greenhouse gas emissions Greenhouse gas emissions from human activities strengthen the greenhouse effect, contributing to climate change. Most is carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels: coal, oil, and natural gas. The largest emitters include coal in China and lar ...

. Further modifications during the conversion included the replacement of navigation and propulsion systems and a general overhaul. Passenger areas were modified as well. ''Spirit of British Columbia'' was the first to undergo the conversion at the Remontowa Ship Repair Yard in

Gdańsk Gdańsk ( , also ; ; csb, Gduńsk;Stefan Ramułt, ''Słownik języka pomorskiego, czyli kaszubskiego'', Kraków 1893, Gdańsk 2003, ISBN 83-87408-64-6. , Johann Georg Theodor Grässe, ''Orbis latinus oder Verzeichniss der lateinischen Benen ...

, Poland, between 2017 and 2018. ''Spirit of Vancouver Island''s retrofit began in September 2018 and the vessel returned to service in April 2019. The conversion of ''Spirit of British Columbia'' earned BC Ferries the Shippax Retrofit Award, which identifies innovation in the ferry industry.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:S Class Ferry Ships built in British Columbia Ferry classes