NUMEROLOGY

BC Ferries’ new skipper can expect rough seas ahead

20,689,087

That’s how many passengers used BC Ferries in fiscal 2016—a 4.9 per cent gain from the previous year but still fewer than in 2006. Coastal communities blame steep fare increases over the past decade for the reduced traffic. As former British Columbia Ferry Services Inc. president and CEO Mike Corrigan sails off to a new job as head of global shipping association Interferry this month, new boss Mark Collins must face their frustration, plus government reticence to foot more of the bill. The biggest challenge will be charting a long-term course, says Brock Smith, professor at Uvic’s Peter B. Gustavson School of Business. “Are they an extension of the highway system, as some want them to be, or a travel experience company, as they are now?” Smith asks. “I’m not sure who’s going to win.”