Yongtalong: BC Ferries' failed Pacificat fast ferries ships in Egypt listed for sale

Could the infamous Pacificat fast ferries, built for the fleet of BC Ferries, make their way back to North America nearly 15 years after they were sold to a Middle Eastern buyer?

Will the fast ferries make a full circle and return at least closer to home? Will these Pacificats finally get new lives?

That is the intended outcome of their Egyptian owner, as they are now looking to dispose of the three high-speed ferry ships, which are designed to carry both passengers and vehicles.

On behalf of Egypt-based company Scrap Masr, North Vancouver-based trade consultant and strategist Robert Arthurs is seeking potential buyers for the vessels, which left BC in 2009 after they changed ownership to Abu Dhabi Mar of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Over the many years of mothballing, ever since they were briefly owned by BC Ferries, the vessels — named Pacificat Discovery, Pacificat Explorer, and Pacificat Voyager — have passed through multiple ownership hands.

In an interview with Daily Hive Urbanized on Thursday, Arthurs says that at some point since leaving BC, the ownership of the vessels changed again to the Egyptian military, and they have now set an asking price of US$15 million (C$20 million) for each vessel or US$45 million (C$60 million) for all three together.

In 2003, the same year BC Ferries transitioned from being a crown corporation to a private company wholly owned by the provincial government, the three vessels were originally sold by the provincial government to Washington Marine Group (WMG) in an auction for only C$19.4 million or C$6.5 million per ship. They remained berthed in North Vancouver until 2009, when WMG sold the vessels to Abu Dhabi Mar for an undisclosed amount.

After major delays and cost overruns, these vessels reached completion between 1998 and 2000 for a combined total cost of about C$446 million.

bc ferries pacificat fast ferries egypt 2023

Exterior; 2023 condition of BC Ferries’ former Pacificat fast ferries in Egypt. (Ehab El Nemr/Submitted)

Cafe; 2023 condition of BC Ferries’ former Pacificat fast ferries in Egypt. (Ehab El Nemr/Submitted)

Interior; 2023 condition of BC Ferries’ former Pacificat fast ferries in Egypt. (Ehab El Nemr/Submitted)

bc ferries pacificat fast ferries egypt 2023 31

2023 aerial of two of BC Ferries’ former Pacificat ships at the port in Al Burj Fort in Egypt. (Google Maps)

When Daily Hive Urbanized last reported on the vessels’ presence in Egypt in 2019, satellite and ground imagery showed they were mothballing at the Port of Alexandria. More recent satellite imagery and provided photos captured in 2023 suggest at least two ships have been relocated to the nearby port facility in Al Burj Fort, located just to the east.

Ehab El Nemr, the head of Scrap Masr and an ex-Egyptian military consultant, found Arthurs’ services through LinkedIn.

“He found me that way, and he said, ‘Listen, once I did some research, I realized, the ships came from your country, they came from your area, and they came from down your street in North Vancouver,'” said Arthurs, who was told that there was recently an urgency to dismantle the vessels and salvage them for aluminum scrap metal.

El Nemr told Arthurs that it went against his code of ethics as an engineer to scrap the vessels, as “they’re not anywhere near their end of life.” Two of the vessels operated for just nine months, while the third vessel never operated at all. When the vessels left BC for the UAE, they were transported onboard heavy-lift cargo ships.

These vessels were intended to operate on the major ferry routes between Metro Vancouver and Vancouver Island.

Cafe; 2023 condition of BC Ferries’ former Pacificat fast ferries in Egypt. (Ehab El Nemr/Submitted)

Interior; 2023 condition of BC Ferries’ former Pacificat fast ferries in Egypt. (Ehab El Nemr/Submitted)

Exterior; 2023 condition of BC Ferries’ former Pacificat fast ferries in Egypt. (Ehab El Nemr/Submitted)

Arthurs says El Nemr did not feel it was right to dismantle ships that can still find utility in a second life, if given a chance. According to the Egyptian consultants, the ships have “excellent” hulls, the engines and generators are “almost new but need service,” and the high-speed propulsion jets are “new.” However, major upgrades need to be performed on the interiors and navigation and electrical systems.

Based on their original design specifications for BC Ferries, each 402-ft-long vessel can carry 1,000 passengers and crew and up to 250 vehicles. Their maximum operating speed is 63 km/hr (34 knots).

According to Arthurs, the Egyptian consultants believe they can fetch similar prices from either salvaging the aluminum — given that global market prices for aluminum have soared in recent years — or selling the vessels. The Egyptian military is giving the vessels a temporary reprieve from the salvage yard, and El Nemr in turn has given Arthurs up to one full year — until January 2025 — to pursue the alternative option of finding a new buyer for re-use.

Even though the vessels have only been publicly listed for sale for one day at the time of writing, there has already been some interest. Arthurs says he has received a call from a potential interested buyer in Hawaii, who sees the possibility of repurposing the Pacificats to serve island-hopping ferry routes between the Hawaiian islands. Other potentially interested parties are as far as away as Taiwan and South America.

Some other ideas floated for their re-use after “repatriation” include their conversion into private yachts.

Car deck; 2023 condition of BC Ferries’ former Pacificat fast ferries in Egypt. (Ehab El Nemr/Submitted)

Engine room; 2023 condition of BC Ferries’ former Pacificat fast ferries in Egypt. (Ehab El Nemr/Submitted)

Due to “operational constraints” in the Red Sea, the vessels “could not be effectively utilized” by their Egyptian owners.

Not only did the Pacificats cost more than twice their original budget to build, but their downfall was also due to operational constraints within BC’s local waters.

It was stated a quarter century ago that these vessels had to operate at slower speeds — similar to the speeds of BC Ferries’ conventional ships — to lower their high fuel consumption costs and reduce the size of their big wakes on shorelines.

The conditions of the BC coast also made the vessels unreliable, as logs and other debris unique to local waters sucked into the catamaran impellers, and caused breakdowns and cancelled sailings.

There were also challenges with using these ferries to transport cargo trucks due to the low-ceiling clearances of the car decks compared to conventional ferries.

Loading and unloading times were longer with the Pacificats compared to conventional ferries, as the lightweight ferries had to be properly balanced during the process. And unlike the double-ended conventional ferries, the single-ended Pacificats had to turn around at the terminal before sailing.

Additionally, passengers used to the spacious interior and outdoor decks of BC Ferries’ conventional ferries were not accustomed to the comparably tighter design and layout of the Pacificats.

The controversy over the Pacificats contributed to the collapse of the previous BC NDP provincial government, and the rise of the BC Liberals led by Gordon Campbell at the turn of the century. The Pacificats were conceived by the BC NDP to help boost the local shipbuilding industry and launch the province into becoming a global exporter of aluminum high-speed ferry vessels.

It was also suggested at the time of their disposal that the provincial government could have sold the vessels at a higher price before being auctioned off to WMG.