Service on the route between Tsawwassen and Duke Point has been canceled as of 3:15 p.m. until the rest of the day, according to the ferry company. Other sailings on different routes departing from Tsawwassen, such as those to Swartz Bay or the South Gulf Islands, are experiencing delays due to heavy traffic and crew shortages. “We will expect traffic congestion on our three main routes … for the remainder of the day,” BC Ferries spokeswoman Deborah Marshall said in an interview. “If customers are thinking about traveling and we’re not realistic, they might want to travel tomorrow … we certainly apologize to our customers.” Marshall said passengers without reservations should consider traveling from Tsawwassen on another day or understand they could be turned away. Those who show up without a reservation will be left sitting in multiple waits. The delays began with an incident at 8:15 p.m. PT sailing from Duke Point to Tsawwassen on Thursday. RCMP officers were called to Coast Inspiration for a “disturbance” between two men traveling together shortly after 9 p.m. “They were behaving quite strangely, causing concern from the staff and employees on board,” said Nanaimo RCMP Const. Gary O’Brien. The ship returned to Duke Point, south of Nanaimo, to allow police to board. O’Brien said one passenger was arrested for “intoxication, possibly drugs,” but officers are still looking for the second man. “We’re working under the assumption that this person did get off the ship at some point. We have not confirmed that … [but] at this time, that person is missing,” O’Brien said in an interview Friday. “Either that [missing] person was drunk, we don’t know.” RCMP vehicles are seen at the BC Ferries Duke Point terminal south of Nanaimo, BC, following a police incident on Thursday. (Name Provided/Withheld) A statement later said security footage showed a man leaving the ship and getting into a waiting taxi. The investigation is now being treated as a missing persons case. The passengers’ vehicle was impounded and towed from the ship. The man who was arrested was still in custody as of Friday morning, O’Brien said. The rest of the ship’s passengers completed their journey to the mainland a few hours later, docking well after midnight.
There is not enough replenishment of ferry workers
Services are canceled on Friday because there are not enough staff to fill in for those who worked on Thursday. Both ships on the route between Tsawwassen and Duke Point were finally affected Thursday: the Coastal Renaissance was delayed because it could not dock at Duke Point while the Coastal Inspiration waited for the police incident to end. Marshall said there were 33 staff on each ship, so 66 ferry workers were stuck with overtime and unable to work Friday. “Last night, we had crews working extremely long hours – up to 16 hours on two of our ships – so we had to stop those crew members for today because, of course, they need much-needed rest,” he said. “We are not able to fill in so many people in such a short period of time.” LISTEN | BC Ferries spokeswoman Deborah Marshall refers to mass cancellations: BC Today51:34 Unrest at BC Ferries terminals. inclusion in the great outdoors A police incident aboard the Coastal Inspiration has caused delays and cancellations between Tsawwassen and Duke Point today. BC Ferries says staff are at the heart of the issue. We’ll be talking with Executive Director of Public Affairs Deborah Marshall, as well as BC Ferry & Marine Workers’ Union Provincial President Eric McNeely. And in our second half, how can we make our trails and outdoor spaces more racially, differently abled, and gender inclusive? We’ll be talking with Judy Kasiama of Color the Trails.
