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The head of B.C. Ferries says rising fuel costs and the need for new ships will drive up fares by as much as 25 per cent on some routes over the next six years.

David Hahn says fares on major routes are expected to rise 15 to 18 per cent by 2013, and at least 25 per cent on minor routes.
He says the company's fuel bill in 2002 was about $45 million, but it will be over $90 million next year.


Hahn says three new super ferries being built in Germany are much more fuel efficient than the vessels they'll replace, saving about seven million litres of fuel a year.


The new ships will cost $542 million, with the first, the Coastal Renaissance, arriving this fall and going into service early next year.
B.C. Ferries is also having the German shipyard build a replacement for the Queen of the North, which plowed into an island and sank in March last year with the loss of two lives.

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