UPDATED Wednesday, February 22: BC Ferries’ Queen of Burnaby returned to service on the Powell River-Comox route on Tuesday, February 21.
The company had been hoping for its return on Monday, February 20, but high winds prevented the flooding of the dry dock early Saturday morning. The ship floated out of the dry dock on Sunday and underwent sea trials, which were successful. The ship sailed to the Little River terminal in Comox on Monday and re-entered service at 6:30 am on Tuesday.
With the ship’s return, the North Island Princess returned to the Powell River-Texada Island route. The regular schedules between both Powell River-Comox and Powell River-Texada
resumed on Tuesday.
The Queen of Burnaby, the usual vessel on the Powell River-Comox route, was pulled from service on Monday, February 6 following a mechanical problem with the operation of the port propeller. The propeller hub has been replaced and a series of adjustments were made to the hydraulic controls.
Because the regular replacement ship for the Burnaby, the Queen of Chilliwack, was undergoing a refit, BC Ferries replaced the Burnaby with the North Island Princess, the usual vessel on the Powell River-Texada route and put the Tachek, the backup vessel on the Texada route, into service.
However, all replacement vessels were much smaller than the usual vessels and there were long lineups and numerous overloads. BC Ferries decided to add extra sailings on the Powell River-Comox route using the Tachek and arranged water taxi service to and from Texada when the Tachek was on the Powell River-Comox route.
The company also arranged daily flights to and from Comox. The flights already scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, February 20 and 21, proceeded as scheduled.
City of Powell River Mayor Dave Formosa said he and Councillor Chris McNaughton had been speaking directly with Mike Corrigan, BC Ferries’ president and CEO, “as this whole fiasco has been playing out.”
The ferry breakdown, coupled with fog which occurred at the same time, elevated the problem to the ministry and provincial cabinet level, Formosa said, since the community was not being serviced. “Their ears will be open just that much more and the priority, we hope, would be that much higher when they see the effects,” he said. “We’re shut down.”
McNaughton said BC Ferries dealt with the customer issues that arose during the disruption in service. “They’re addressing each individual concern with dispatch,” he said. “The real issue is that Powell River is being serviced by the three oldest ships in the fleet.”
The Queen of Burnaby, built in 1965, was to be replaced in 2008, McNaughton pointed out, but the projected time of replacement is now 2016. The North Island Princess, built in 1958, is slated to be replaced in 2017. The replacement cost for the two vessels is about $150 million, he added.
He, Formosa and Councillor Debbie Dee are meeting with Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure Blair Lekstrom on March 14, McNaughton added. “This will be a high priority in our conversation with the minister to have these vessels replaced,” he said. “With the change in weather patterns, having smaller ships just simply won’t work for this community. There are too many instances where we’re missing whole days of travel opportunity because of weather right now.”
FERRY UPDATE Tuesday, February 21, 10 am – A sigh of relief could be heard throughout the community today as the Queen of Burnaby returned to service on the Powell River-Comox route.
The company had been hoping for its return on Monday, February 20, but high winds prevented the flooding of the dry dock early Saturday morning.
The ship floated out of the dry dock on Sunday and underwent sea trials, which were successful. The ship sailed to the LIttle River terminal in Comox Monday and re-entered service with the 6:30 am sailing from Comox on Tuesday.
With the return of the Queen of Burnaby, the North Island Princess returned to service on the Powell River-Texada Island route. The regular schedules between both Powell River-Comox and Powell River-Texada will resumed on Tuesday as well.
The Queen of Burnaby, the usual vessel on the Powell River-Comox route, was pulled from service on Monday, February 6 following a mechanical problem with the operation of the port propeller. The propeller hub has been replaced and a sereis of adjustments were made to the hydraulic controls.
BC Ferries replaced the Burnaby with the North Island Princess, the usual vessel on the Powell River-Texada route and put the Tachek on the Texada route.
However, all replacement vessels were much smaller than the usual vessels and there were long line-ups and numerous overloads. BC Ferries decided to add extra sailings on the Powell River-Comox route using the Tachek and arranged water taxi service to and from Texada when the Tachek was on the Powell River-Comox route.
The company also arranged for daily flights to and from Comox. The flights already scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, February 20 and 21, will proceed as scheduled.
