By
Rebecca Gibson |
BC Ferries’ newest passenger ferry Salish Orca is one step closer to her autumn 2016 delivery now that she has been wrapped in her new art decal.
Designed by Darlene Gait, Coast Salish artist and member of Esquimalt Nation (the first people of Victoria, British Columbia), the decal was produced by local graphics printer Ampco Grafix. It depicts a pod of orcas moving through the water. The same design will also be reproduced inside the vessel.
Speaking in March when she was appointed to design the decal, Gait said: “I look forward to sharing my artwork. It was created from a love that runs deep, a love that embraces my family today and those who we consider still with us but living in the world of spirit. The orca whales and wolves are also separated by two different worlds.”
The art decal also has a more practical function.
“Besides the incredible artistic imagery that the wrap provides, it also has valuable maintenance properties by protecting the coating on the vessel,” said Mark Wilson, BC Ferries’ vice president of engineering. “This has been aptly demonstrated by the decals on the Coastal Class vessels.”
Named in honour of the Coast Salish people and the Salish Sea where she will operate, Salish Orca is one of three new LNG-powered ferries under construction at Remontowa Shipbuilding in Gdansk, Poland.
Scheduled to replace the 50-year old Queen of Burnaby on the Comox – Powell River route in Canada, Salish Orca can run on both LNG and ultra-low sulphur diesel fuel. Salish Orca will depart Poland this autumn and sail by the Canary Islands, through the Panama Canal and up the west coast of North America, arriving in British Columbia by the end of the year.
Salish Orca’s identical sister ships Salish Eagle and Salish Raven will arrive later and will sail in the Southern Gulf Islands.