New Salish Orca ferry en route to B.C.

The first of three new vessels in the BCFerries fleetis now en routefrom Poland.

The Salish Class shipswillbe the first in B.Cto bepowered by liquid natural gas.

The Salish Orcastarted the journey ofmorethan 10,000nautical miles Tuesday from a shipyard in Gdansk, Poland,to B.C.

Thetrip will take between 45 and 55 days.

The Salish Orca will replace the aging Queen of Burnaby that serves the route between Powell River on the Sunshine Coast and Comox on Vancouver Island.

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"We expect this vessel to be extremely reliable," saidBC Ferries spokeswomanDeborah Marshall.

"The Burnaby has served us very well for many years but we are very excited to get a brand new vessel on the run."

The Salish Orca will be the first vesselpoweredby liquid natural gas to operate as part of the BC Ferries fleet.

"We've been doing a lot of work with Fortis B.C.," Marshall said. "We don't expect any hiccups with it."

Following a training period for the crewand public information sessions, the Salish Orca will be put into service in the spring of 2017.

Relief in Powell River

News theSalish Orcais headed to B.C. comes asa relief in Powell River where people rely heavily on ferry service, said Mayor Dave Formosa.

Mechanical problemson the aging Queen of Burnabycaused traffic chaos this summer for people trying to reach the Sunshine Coast.

Weather has also been a problem for the 51-year-old ship.

"Because of its age and unreliability, its ability to take weather and wind was downgraded from the engineering specs of the ship," he said."So in certain wind when a ship would travel, ours wouldn't."

Formosa said people travelling for medical appointments and local business peoplewhocount on deliveries of goods have been most affected.

The other two Salish Class ferries that are being built in Polandare scheduled for deliveryto B.C. next summer and will servicetheSouthern Gulf Islands.