BC Ferries vessel docked with an engine problem, multiple sailings cancelled

BC Ferries has cancelled multiple sailings scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday due to engine problems on its Coastal Renaissance vessel.

The initial announcement came at 4 p.m. Wednesday when BC Ferries took to its Twitter account to say the vessel was “holding outside of dock near Tsawwassen due to a mechanical issue with the ship’s main engine.”

The corporation says four sailings between the Tsawwassen and Duke Point terminals on Wednesday were cut — beginning with the 3:15 p.m. departing Tsawwassen and ending with the 10:45 p.m. heading back from Duke Point.

BC Ferries Executive Director of Public Affairs Deborah Marshall tells CityNews that the issue came up as the vessel was heading towards the terminal.

She says some travellers on that first cancelled sailing were taken care of right away, while others were forced to wait.

“The foot passengers were able to walk off that vessel onto the Queen of Coquitlam — which is the other vessel operating on the run. … Unfortunately, we weren’t able to accommodate the vehicles that were already loaded onto the Coastal Renaissance.”

Vehicle passengers who were set to make their way to Vancouver Island on the 3:15 p.m. sailing were eventually put back in the queue to wait for another sailing instead.

A service notice from BC Ferries explains that customers with reservations booked on any cancelled sailing will be contacted by the corporation’s customer service centre if there is any space for them on an alternate sailing before the end of the day. Alternatively, they will be refunded in the case of a full cancellation.

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In regard to the Coastal Renaissance returning to service, Marshall says its “engineers are troubleshooting” in order to find out exactly what the problem is and “get a fix underway.”

When another BC Ferries vessel — the Coastal Celebration — returned from repairs earlier this summer, it did so only after “successful completion of sea trials.” Marshall says the situation would be the same for the Coastal Renaissance.

“We will want to be testing our equipment before it goes back into service. I think it’s a little premature at this point because we need to allow our engineers the time it’s going to take to diagnose exactly what’s wrong.”

Just after 9:30 p.m. on Wednesday night, the corporation announced it cancelled four more Coastal Renaissance sailings that were scheduled for Thursday because of the same mechanical issue.

BC Ferries says the remaining sailings on the Tsawwassen-Duke Point route will “proceed as scheduled.”

It remains unclear when the Coastal Renaissance will return to service.