update: mechanical woes lead to several easter long weekend b.c. ferries cancellations
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the b.c. ferries vessel queen of surrey passes bowen island while traveling on howe sound from horseshoe bay to langdale, b.c., on friday, april 23, 2021.
darryl dyck, the canadian press
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b.c. ferries travel disruptions continued into easter on monday, following a busy long weekend where three vessels failed, causing delays on three routes.
with wind gusts of up to 70 km/h expected monday evening, the ferry service was prepared to cancel its 8 p.m. swartz bay and 10 p.m. tsawwassen sailings, according to an early monday service notice.
cancellations between tsawwassen (vancouver) and duke point (nanaimo) also continued into monday, following a mechanical issue with a vessel. two sailings had already been cancelled sunday, while four more — the 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. from duke point, and the 11:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. from tsawwassen — were also cancelled monday.
the spirit of vancouver island also continues to operate a revised schedule between swartz bay (victoria)-tsawwassen (vancouver), after a starboard generator issue was repaired last week and the vessel returned to service friday. the ship will remain on a revised schedule until wednesday.
on saturday, a mechanical issue with the propulsion system on the island discovery ferry led to the cancellation of all scheduled service between blubber bay (texada island) and westview (powell river) until at least april 9. instead, salish orca sailings between westview and little river (comox) will now stop at blubber bay to ensure passengers can still access texada island. the revised schedule will be in place until thursday, and will add an additional 25 minutes to the westview-little river sailings.
the service modifications come after b.c. ferries cancelled several sailings before the easter long weekend due to the the spirit of vancouver island and queen of surrey being out of service last week.
while the queen of surrey returned to service sunday, crews later identified a mechanical issue with the vessel’s steering panel that same day. the queen of coquitlam instead has taken over that route for the time begin.
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“our engineering teams are still working to address the issue as quickly as possible,” read a statement shared by b.c. ferries on monday. “safety is always our top priority, and the vessel will not return to service until we are confident it is safe to do so.”
b.c. conservative transportation critic harman bhangu visited b.c. ferries tsawwassen terminal on sunday afternoon. in a social media post, bhangu said it was mayhem.
“ferries are getting cancelled left, right and centre,” bhangu said. “this did not happen overnight. it has been one failure after the other. the (b.c. ferries) board has been completely incompetent. the ndp has had nine years to fix this.”
late last week, b.c. ferries president nicholas jimenez said b.c. ferries had challenges with an aging fleet.
“our ships work incredibly well even though they’re old. we don’t have issues often, but when we do, understandably, they cause people challenges for travel,” he said.
b.c. ferries has eight new vessels on order, including four island class ships for shorter routes that are expected to arrive this year and next year from romania, and four china-made larger vessels for major routes. construction on those vessels is expected to start next year, with delivery scheduled starting in 2029.
the ferry company had made an application for a fifth ship designed to serve as a relief vessel but was turned down by the ferries commissioner, who said an extra ship was “not fiscally prudent.”
a b.c. ferries spokesperson said monday that the ferry corporation recognizes “the significant impact these cancellations are having on customers during the easter long weekend.”
“this latest issue continues to underscore the challenges of operating an aging fleet under sustained and growing demand that exceeds what the system was originally designed to accommodate,” the statement read.
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“this is exactly why we applied to the b.c. ferry commissioner to build a fifth new major vessel, which could provide additional relief in moments like this. that proposal wasn’t approved, and decisions on fleet expansion aren’t within our control, but we’ll continue to advocate for it. without that extra vessel, our ability to absorb disruptions like this is limited.”
with files from cheryl chan and stephanie ip
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