B.C. Ferries says a sidelined vessel is on track to return to service on the route between Swartz Bay and Tsawwassen on Friday, pending successful sea trials.
Coastal Celebration usually does eight sailings a day between the Island and the mainland, carrying a maximum of 310 vehicles and 1,604 passengers and crew. Since the vessel was taken out of service last week for repairs, many passengers travelling between the Island and the Lower Mainland have faced long waits.
The ferry has been in dry dock in North Vancouver to repair an ineffective seal on a propeller blade that resulted in an oil leak. All four blade seals are in the process of being replaced, B.C. Ferries said Wednesday afternoon, and the vessel is expected to be refloated Thursday night.
Sea trials are to be conducted while the ferry is travelling to Swartz Bay from the dry dock in North Vancouver, the company said.
B.C. Ferries said customers with reservations on Coastal Celebration on Friday will likely be able to travel as planned, noting it will contact people with reservations directly in the event of any delays.
Food services on the vessel may be limited on Friday, because of a short turnaround time between the ferry’s expected arrival in Swartz Bay and the first sailing of the day, B.C. Ferries said.
With Coastal Celebration out of operation, vehicle reservations have been selling out quickly and some vessels have reached capacity, leading to waits for foot passengers.
On Tuesday, the B.C. Ferries website indicated sailings out of Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay were full for about nine hours from the morning, but the situation on the ground didn’t turn out to be as dire.
James Tan, vice-president and chief information officer at B.C. Ferries, said customers who had been booked on the out-of-service Coastal Celebration were moved to other sailings, which led to scheduled sailings becoming 95 per cent full.
Traffic at the terminal bumped the forecasts to 100 per cent full for most of the day, Tan said.
However, about 10 to 20 per cent of those with vehicle reservations didn’t show up, so more customers were able to get on the ferries.
Tan recommends looking at alternative routes when current conditions are showing sold-out sailings, even though there’s a chance of stand-by traffic getting on, as some passengers managed to do Tuesday.
“Essentially, we are rolling the dice on somebody not showing up.”
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