Ferry cancellations caused long delays for people trying to return to the Lower Mainland from Salt Spring Island Sunday evening.
Several BC Ferries sailings have been cancelled, including the 7:30pm departure from Long Harbor to Tsawwassen.
“At 4:30 p.m. we got a call from a 1-800 number that I didn’t answer,” said Corey Dixon, who was planning to take the ferry.
“It went to voicemail and luckily I checked it. Said our ferry was canceled due to lack of staff.
Some passengers decided to try their luck at a second ferry terminal, Fulford Harbour. BC Ferries officials told them there would be no ferries available at that location either due to staff shortages and mechanical issues.
For anyone hoping to catch a ferry, the only hope was to catch an evening sailing from a third terminal, Vesuvius, to Crofton, a small town about 75 kilometers north of Victoria.
However, travelers faced a wait of two to three sailings to board this ferry. BC Ferries has introduced an alternative option for pedestrians traveling to and from Vancouver Island.
“In a situation like yesterday where we really had to cancel some of our service, we laid on a water taxi to ferry customers back and forth,” said Deborah Marshall, executive director of public affairs for BC Ferries.
Marshall said the canceled sailings were actually due to low staffing levels.
“I don’t know what the story is, but if a few people call in sick and that means the ferries aren’t running, that’s not good policy,” Dixon said.
Marshall told CTV News that absenteeism levels have doubled since before the pandemic.
“It is (now) about 11 percent. So we might have 400 or 500 employees that are not available at some point now,” Marchal said.
“Even though we have a lot of staff, what we’re finding is that people are not as accessible as they used to be.”
The ferry service suggests checking for updates on its website and social media channels before heading to the ferry terminal. Additional disruptions are not excluded with the onset of the pandemic.
“Sometimes we have to cancel sailings due to crew availability and we certainly apologize to our customers for that,” Marshall said.
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