The phrase “cable ferries” might evoke images of tiny urban transit planners who descend on a city in the middle of the night and install a shiny new gondola system throughout a gridlocked city. Oh, wait: ferries, not fairies. As amazing as the previous scenario might be, we’re interesting in drawing attention a far more reality-based sort of cable ferry. Namely the one being installed between Buckley Bay and Denman Island on the eastern side of Vancouver Island.
We’ve only mentioned cable ferries a couple of times before, but this is neither anything similar to the aerial car transporter featured at the Volkswagon factory in Bratislava, nor is it the sort of fantastical underwater submarine gondola that existed briefly in Marseilles during the late 1960s. Instead, this BC cable ferry is more or less a standard ferry boat—the type seen all around Vancouver and Vancouver Island—that is pulled across the channel by a cable rather than powered by a traditional boat engine.
There are hundreds of these types of cable ferries around the world, including dozens of them in Canada. At 1,900 metres in length, this Buckley Bay-Denman Island link will use a tricable system (one “drive” cable and two “guide” cables). The bonus feature is that it would be the longest cable ferry in the world when it’s scheduled to open in the summer of 2015.
The proposal was met with a considerable amount of opposition, mostly citing the loss of jobs and the fear that the cable ferry would be “uderdesigned” for the conditions. One of our regular readers, who initially tipped us to the story, suggested that perhaps a slightly different version of the technology would be a better option; namely a reaction ferry controlled by an onshore operator.
Whenever introducing an unfamiliar technology, there’s always the danger of this sort of pushback, and the influx of alternate ideas. But the key when debating either side of such a situation is to make sure all sides are informed. Clearly there is precedent for this sort of cable ferry installation, but there are also a number of options when it comes to the available technology.
We’d love to hear more from any cable ferry experts as to the merits and/or potential snags with this upcoming system.
1 Comment
Chain ferries exist for a very long time. They just use a chain instead of a cable, because it was not possible to manufacture a suitable cable in those years. In Europe whole rivers and canals where equipped with chains. The chain drive was more efficient and there was no propeller wash which destroyed the river banks.
However manoeuvres like crossing or overtaking other boats where troublesome.