4 sailings on major BC Ferries route cancelled due to ‘mechanical difficulty’

The Queen of New Westminster is pictured. (BC Ferries)

A mechanical issue cancelled four sailings on BC Ferries’ busiest route Tuesday before service could be restored.

A service notice from the ferry provider blamed “a mechanical difficulty with the pitch control” on its Queen of New Westminster vessel for the cancellation of the 8 a.m. and noon departures from Tsawwassen and the 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. return trips from Swartz Bay.

The vessel’s remaining trips for the day were also threatened, but crews were able to fix the issue and restore scheduled sailings from Tsawwassen at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. and from Swartz Bay at 6 p.m. and 10 p.m.

The Tsawwassen-Swartz Bay route was already running a modified schedule Tuesday, part of a weeklong change made to address a “mechanical difficulty with the starboard generator” on a different vessel.

Seven of the Spirit of Vancouver Island’s sailings were cancelled on Sunday due to the generator issue.

The impact of the Queen of New Westminster’s issues did not extend to sailings on other vessels serving the route on Tuesday. Those sailings were operating according to the modified schedule.

The 62-year-old ship is the oldest one in the BC Ferries fleet, and is slated for replacement as part of the company’s new major vessels plan, according to the service notice.

“Situations like these reflect the challenges of operating an aging fleet with limited backup capacity,” the statement reads.

“In our application, we identified the need for five vessels to strengthen reliability and provide backup capacity, but only four were approved by the BC Ferry Commission. Demand on this route continues to grow, and situations like this highlight the value of having that additional capacity in place.”

The first of the four new major vessels currently under construction is scheduled to enter service in 2029, according to BC Ferries.

Travellers with bookings on one of the sailings cancelled Tuesday will be contacted by BC Ferries’ customer service centre, which will inform them if they can be accommodated on an alternative sailing or if their bookings must be cancelled.

Those with cancelled itineraries will receive refunds.

“We appreciate your patience and apologize for any inconvenience you may experience as a result of these cancellations,” the service notice reads.