Powell River residents may have the Queen of Chilliwack on the Saltery Bay-Earls Cove route until May.
The Chilliwack, which was placed on the route on September 12, was originally slated to remain there until March 9. It replaced the Island Sky, which went in for a refit and then replaced the Queen of Burnaby on the Powell River-Comox route, which went in for its own refit.
Queen of Nanaimo, which serves the Tsawwassen-Southern Gulf Island route and is a sister ship to the Burnaby, went out of service on November 2 after it was thrown off course during severe weather and crashed into a private float. Some damage was sustained to the ferry’s starboard side propeller and shafting, as well as a part of the aft hull. The vessel spent several days in dry dock where repairs were conducted, then went back into service.
The propeller blades on the Burnaby were removed and placed on the Nanaimo during the repairs, confirmed Deborah Marshall, BC Ferries’ spokesperson. “We have ordered new propeller blades,” she said. “That is the reason for the delay, the new propeller blades.”
The refits for both the Burnaby and Nanaimo will take longer than expected, said Marshall. “That would mean that the Queen of Chilliwack would be on Route 7 longer than we expected,” she said.
The Burnaby is in refit now, Marshall said. “She was supposed to replace the Queen of Nanaimo at the beginning of January. It’s my understanding that we have to wait for the blades to put on the Burnaby before we can put her into service to replace the Nanaimo. Then the Nanaimo would go in for her refit and when she comes out, the Burnaby would go back.”
