Heading south on Highway 99 approaching the Massey Tunnel you will notice a line up of BC Ferries to your right. But the Fraser River isn't a Ferry route. So what is going on?

I am sure many of you know the answer - this is the location of what's known as ''Deas Dock', the primary ship repair and maintenance location for BC Ferries. What you may not know, is there are lot of people working there - approximately 250 of them full time and up to 350 during the peak refit season, which runs from September to May.

If you drove by today you would see the Queen of Oak Bay, Queen of Capilano, Salish Orca, Northern Adventure and the Queen of Burnaby which is retired.

The Salish Orca was put into service in 2017 on the Comox-Powell River route to replace the Queen of Burnaby. 

You might remember the Queen of Burnaby being put up for auction, initially at a low, low price and the eventual high bid was $653,000, which is now subject to approval by BC Ferries. 

Of course the Massey Tunnel has been a hot topic over the past few years, as talk of a bridge or some other repair/replacement alternative has been in the news, but BC Ferries doesn't see that impacting their operation.

So, have you noticed the ferries parked by the Massey Tunnel, and did you know what they were doing there?