SECOND BC FERRY LEAVES GERMANY

SECOND SUPER C-CLASS VESSEL

DEPARTS GERMANY
MV Coastal Inspiration now en route to B.C.

Coastal Inspiration, the second of BC Ferries new Super C-class vessels, is on its way to British Columbia. The ship departed Flensburg, Germany yesterday, and is expected to arrive in late March.
Like its sister ship, Coastal Renaissance, Coastal Inspiration is wrapped in a massive photographic invitation to the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Coastal Inspiration will make the trans-Atlantic voyage via the Panama Canal in approximately 45 days, depending on weather.
The ship’s gigantic promotional images feature women’s snowboarding and men’s curling from the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics, as well as tourism photos of Brooks Peninsula Provincial Park on Vancouver Island and Kootenay National Park in south-western B.C.
Coastal Inspiration will stop for refuelling and supplies in Brunsbuettel, Germany; Las Palmas, Canary Islands; Cristobal, Panama; and either Ensenada, Mexico or Los Angeles, California, before sailing up the west coast of North America to B.C. BC Ferries will launch a webpage next week for those who want to track the voyage of Coastal Inspiration.
Customers will be able to watch the ship’s progress including course, position and speed from a link on BC Ferries’ homepage at www.bcferries.com. The webpage that tracked the voyage of the first Super C-class vessel, Coastal Renaissance, was viewed over 178,000 times.
Coastal Inspiration is scheduled to arrive in Nanaimo in late March. The vessel will start service on the Duke Point – Tsawwassen route prior to the summer of 2008.