A Powell River councillor acknowledges the growing frustration with cancellations of ferries to and from the community.
“It’s not great,” Jim Palm said of the situation where BC Ferries ships are being scrubbed because key staff are missing.
“On the higher end of the staffing, whether engineer, captain or whatever it may be, if that person is sick and doesn’t show up for work and they haven’t got a replacement, unfortunately that boat cannot sail,” Palm said.
Palm suggests the ferry operator also pulls staff from places like Comox for missing staff in busier routes like Nanaimo leading to cancellations around Powell River.
“If the busy run in Duke Point or Nanaimo is without an engineer, well, they find one and that’s usually or it could be out of Comox, and our ferry doesn’t sail,” he said.
Palm says he’s experienced the cancellation problems first hand. He travelled to Vancouver twice in the last month. Even though it was an hour ahead of time before the sailing, he had to wait for the second ferry, he said.
The ferry advisory committee member told the public at last night’s council meeting it’s being worked on but there is “not an easy fix.”
The councillor also noted more people are travelling putting a “great burden on those ships.”
As for what people can do, he suggested checking ahead on ferry timetables and making a reservation if possible.
