Buy a BC Ferries vessel for less than a Vancouver condo

A 52-year-old BCFerries vessel The Queen of Burnaby is up for auction andwillbe replaced bya newer craft that runs onliquid natural gas.

The vessel services theComox-PowellRiver routeand will make its last run at the end of March.

The 904-person capacity ship hasseveral lounges and cafeterias as well as a gift shop and kids zone.

Thelisting for the Queen ofBurnabyon govdeals.comsays that all equipment for the vessel, "is maintained to acceptable industry standards on an ongoing basis."

Bidding opens at $400,000.

It will be replaced by theSalishOrca, which was built in Poland and will be the first ferry in B.C. to run on liquid natural gas.

BCFerries hailed the Salish Orca as a more reliable alternative when it began its voyage to B.C. last fall.

In the summer of 2016, The Queen of Burnabywas hampered by mechanical problems that limited its use in adverse wind and weather.

The vessel, which was built in Victoria, makes 54 sailings per week and travels 918 nautical miles in that time. It's powered by a pair offour-stroke diesel engines.

'Limited market for used vessels'

The38-year-old surplus vesselthe Queen of Chilliwackwas sold a year ago for an undisclosed sum. But, the deal made headlines questioning if BC Ferries got fair value.

"The cost to keep a ship such as the Queen of Chilliwack on stand-by in a ready capacity isapproximately $1.5 million to $2 million per year," said the corporation in a releaseat the time.

"There is a limited market for used vessels, especially ships approaching 40 years of age," it also said, stating that it could not release the sale price, in order to protect the competitive bid process for other sales, such as that for the Queen of Burnaby.

In 2003, BCFerries came under fire after selling a fleet ofthreefast ferriesfor just over $19 million. The vesselscost $450 million to build.

The NDP governmentat the timecommissioned the ships as a way to improve service and spark the province's shipbuilding industry. In the end, the fast ferriesdid neither, and a host of problems left them tied to the dock.

The auction for the Queen of Burnaby closes at noonPT on Feb. 15, 2017.

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