Planning a ferry trip? BC Ferries warns of possible service disruptions

Staffing issues have forced BC Ferries to issue a rare warning to travellers about potential impacts to sailings in the coming months.

The inter-island routes are expected to be hardest hit, which include the routes to and from the Southern Gulf Islands.

“It is a combination including the Omicron variant’s potential to impact employee wellness, regular cold and flu season, severe winter storms, vaccination policies that have reduced crew availability, and the global shortage of professional mariners making it difficult to hire replacement staff,” BC Ferries wrote in a statement Monday.

BC Ferries spokesperson Deb Marshall says about 30 per cent of staff called in sick over the month of December and continues to see ongoing impacts.

“We did see a couple of sailings that we did have to cancel, for example, this morning between Tsawwassen and Duke Point because we had crew shortages. Over the weekend we also saw some service interruptions on the Texada run, and week or so ago we did see some service disruption on the Gabriola Island run,” Marshall said in an interview with CityNews.

Prepare yourself for sailing cancellations with BC Ferries in coming months. It's having major issues hiring & keeping staff, & the workers it does have are getting sick. BC Ferries points to Omicron, cold & flu season, storms & vax mandates as challenges. More @CityNewsVAN

— Martin MacMahon (@martinmacmahon) January 10, 2022

Over the holidays, a crew member tested positive for COVID-19 on board the Northern Sea Wolf, shutting down service for days between several remote central coast communities.

In an interview with CityNews regarding the incident, the president of the BC Ferry Workers Union said it’s not as simple as just replacing one person with another when there is illness, as there are not enough mariners to backfill.

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.

Marshall says the percentage is low, less than five per cent.

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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.

When none of those options are available, the company has to modify service, because the regulations require these positions be filed or the vessel cannot sail.

“We certainly apologize to our customers for any service interruption that we have, and rest assured we are doing everything we can to try to mitigate any sailing disruptions but I would suggest anybody planning to travel with us for the next little while — do check our ‘All Routes at a Glance’ page on our website,” Marshall said.

With files from Martin MacMahon