By Mark Edward Nero
BC Ferries, the service provider responsible for passenger ferry service along coastal British Columbia, said Oct. 17 that its newest and first natural gas powered vessel, the Salish Orca, has just finished being wrapped in a massive decal featuring the artwork of a Coast Salish artist.
In the image, a pod of orcas appears as a family moving through the water. It was created by Darlene Gait, an Aboriginal artist from Victoria, British Columbia.
“Besides the incredible artistic imagery that the wrap provides, it also has valuable maintenance properties by protecting the coating on the vessel,” BC Ferries’ Vice President of Engineering Mark Wilson said.
The decal, placed on the vessel at a shipyard in Poland, was produced by Ampco Grafix of Coquitlam, British Columbia, an award winning large format graphics printer.
The Salish Orca, which had been under construction since January 2015, is expected to depart Poland later this fall under its own power and sail by the Canary Islands, through the Panama Canal and up the west coast of North America. She’s expected to arrive in British Columbia by the end of the year.
A one minute time-lapse video showing the application of the massive decal onto the Salish Orca can be seen via the BC Ferries Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/britishcolumbiaferries/videos/vb.119019564797374/1587492964616686/?type=3&theater.
