The PacifiCat class of fast ferries was operated from June 1999 to March 2000 by BC Ferries in British Columbia, Canada. Three PacifiCat catamarans - Explorer, Discovery, and Voyager - were built between 1996 and 2000 as part of a major public project to improve ferry service between the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island. The first two catamarans were briefly used for revenue service between Horseshoe Bay in West Vancouver and Departure Bay in Nanaimo from 1999 to March 2000. The third catamaran, PacifiCat Voyager, was completed in early 2000 but had yet to enter revenue service by the time the project was cancelled.
PacifiCat Explorer, the first of the class, docked at Departure Bay in Nanaimo
All three PacifiCats docked at North Vancouver in October 2005
Waterjets of a PacifiCat
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 services for coastal and island communities in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Set up in 1960 to provide a similar service to that provided by the Black Ball Line and the Canadian Pacific Railway, which were affected by job action at the time, BC Ferries has become the largest passenger ferry line in North America, operating a fleet of 41 vessels with a total passenger and crew capacity of over 27,000, serving 47 locations on the B.C. coast.
Tsawwassen terminal was constructed by filling in a large area at the end of a causeway in 1960
Toll booths at Tsawwassen Terminal
A BC Ferries loading dock (berth 4 at Tsawwassen terminal)
Final loading of cars onto a ferry