BC Ferries reviewing ‘near-miss’ incident on northern route

The Northern Adventure is seen near Haida Gwaii in an undated image. (Shutterstock)

For the first time, details are being shared about a recent “near-miss” incident involving a BC Ferries vessel off the northern coast.

BC Ferries provided a summary of what happened Thursday after submitting a detailed report on the March 8 incident to the Transportation Safety Board of Canada.

The company said the Northern Adventure vessel was travelling on the McLoughlin Bay-Bella Bella-Ocean Falls route when the crew went off course in order to “take necessary measures to secure the vessel in heavy weather.”

“During this time, the vessel entered an area of reduced water depth near Milbanke Sound,” reads the summary. “At its shallowest point, the vessel travelled briefly over a shoal in approximately nine metres of water.”

The crew immediately executed “corrective measures” and returned to the planned route, BC Ferries said. No one was injured, there was no environmental impact, and the ferry was not damaged, according to the company.

Asked what’s considered the minimum depth for safe navigation of the Northern Adventure—a ferry 117 metres long, with a capacity for 500 passengers and 87 vehicles—a BC Ferries spokesperson said it varies depending how full the vessel is at a given time, but that 10 metres is its “navigation limit.”

“BC Ferries sets navigation limits for our vessels to ensure they remain in a safe depth regardless of how full the vessel is,” the spokesperson said in an email. “In this case, the vessel went past that limiting line, but quickly altered back into safe water.”

The incident was immediately reported to Transport Canada, and an internal review is ongoing to “determine root causes and develop concrete actions that will focus on preventing this type of incident from occurring again,” according to the company’s summary.

In a statement on the incident, BC Ferries president Nicolas Jimenez referenced the deadly 2006 crash involving the Queen of the North, which ran aground while travelling between Port Hardy and Prince Rupert.

The lessons learned after that incident “led to an industry-leading safety program at BC Ferries,” Jimenez said.

“This recent near miss reinforces that safety must remain the foundation of everything we do. Our customers and crew must both feel and be safe when they travel with us, and we are committed to applying the lessons from this review to further strengthen our operations,” he said.