B.C. Ferries confident all ships will sail smoothly this summer
B.C. Ferries says it's taking steps to ensure all vessels are set to sail successfully this summer — after the 2023 season was plagued with cancellations.
The company, which runs 39 vessels along the B.C. coast, is planning to do annual repairs within a shorter timeframe and is replacing problematic rotors in three of its vessels in an attempt to avoid cancellations during the peak summer period.
Between July and September 2023, there were 1,172 sailing cancellations, up 16 per cent from the previous year and one-third of them were due to mechanical issues.
The Coastal Renaissance, one of three Coastal class vessels, was pulled from service on Aug. 17 due to a rotor issue and has been out of service ever since.
The Coastal class vessel rotors were expected to last 25 years, but they've been problematic in the ships, which are 15 (Inspiration and Celebration) and 16 (Renaissance) years old.
A slide distributed by B.C. Ferries shows the age of its major vessels. (B.C. Ferries/submitted )
The rotor is supposed to last for 30,000 starts, which B.C. Ferries said would normally take 25 years for the Coastal class.
But not long after the service started using the ferries, it realized the rotor caused vibration and noise it said was disruptive when the vessels were docked. The solution was to turn them off while docked and restart them to sail, which meant they reached the 30,000 start lifespan more quickly than expected.
The Coastal Renaissance is expected to be running again in March.
The Coastal Inspiration, which has the most used rotor of the three, is currently sailing an amended route between Tsawwassen and Swartz Bay, as a precautionary measure. The route, which takes 15 minutes longer, avoids Active Pass — so that if the rotor and therefore propulsion were to fail, it would not happen in the narrow passage between Mayne and Galiano islands.
The Coastal Celebration remains in service.
Stephen Jones, vice president of engineering for B.C. Ferries, said all three vessels will have their rotors replaced by summer — and a new system will mitigate the vibration and noise, so the propellers will not need to be shut off each time the ships are docked.
"The Coastals have been a reliable workhorse for us and we look forward to having them all back in service this summer," said Jones.
Compressed refit schedule
B.C. Ferries has also tightened its annual refit schedule this year, in an effort to avoid cancellations during peak season.
Refits refer to safety inspections and work on major parts such as engines and breaks, that require a vessel to be pulled out of service, usually for 30 to 90 days.
Not every vessel needs to be pulled from service for refits each year, but the ones that do are worked on between Thanksgiving and the May long weekend, to avoid peak travel season.
B.C. Ferries doesn't do any annual maintenance, or refits, during the peak summer season. This year, it says it has compressed its schedule even more to make sure unplanned delays don't disrupt peak season. (B.C. Ferries/submitted )
Brian Anderson, vice president of strategy and planning, calls refit scheduling "a very complicated ballet [that] requires very careful planning."
He said this year, they've created a larger buffer between the refit period and summer in case maintenance takes longer than expected.
For the most part, the ships that sail the major routes between the mainland and Vancouver Island will have annual work completed by May, otherwise it will wait until October.
