BC Ferries service disruptions still possible due to COVID, flu, weather

BC Ferries is warning passengers of more potential cancellations as it continues to struggle with staffing due to COVIDU-19, the flu, and the weather.

Four sailings were cancelled yesterday on the Queen of Cowichan between Horseshoe Bay and Nanaimo due to staffing issues.

BC Ferries previously said about 30 per cent of staff called in sick over the month of December and the company continues to see ongoing impacts.

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Dan McIntosh with BC Ferries says some sailings can still go ahead even when there’s a shortage of employees but that depends on whether that’s the captain, engineers or a cook.

He says fewer kitchen staff may mean less cafeteria service, but a ferry can’t sail without key staff. Some crew members have been cross-trained,

BC Ferries has contingency plans in place, as requested by the provincial health officer, to deal with a rise in absenteeism as the Omicron variant sweeps through the province, and that includes cross-training staff to do other duties or deploying them to different locations. However, McIntosh says some positions are too highly specialized to have someone else step into the role.

BC Ferries says it is working to train more people, redeploy staff from one location to another, and pay overtime to incentivize employees to cover these gaps.

Last week, BC Ferries said passengers can expect disruptions to last for months, with the inter-island routes expected to be hardest hit. This includes the routes to and from the Southern Gulf Islands. As of Monday, there was revised service for the Tsawwassen-Gulf Islands and Swartz Bay-Gulf Islands routes. The latest information can be found on the All Routes Status At-a-Glance section of the BC Ferries website.

It says in addition to COVID-19, vaccination policies have also reduced staff.

BC Ferry Workers Union president Eric McNeely warned the situation is set to come to head at the end of the month, when Transport Canada’s rules requiring full vaccination come into effect on Jan. 24.

While it’s unclear how many employees have chosen not to be vaccinated, McNeely warns even if one or two high-ranking mariners are unable to work, it impacts sailings.

With files from the Canadian Press and Claire Fenton