VICTORIA -- A BC Ferries sailing between Tsawwassen and Swartz Bay is roughly an hour behind schedule due to a BC Hydro outage at the Swartz Bay ferry terminal Wednesday afternoon.

The BC Ferries Coastal Celebration vessel was unable to offload passengers in Swartz Bay around noon because electricity is required to operate the terminal's ramps.

The outage, which affected more than 1,700 people in North Saanich, began around 11:30 a.m. and ended at approximately 12:45 p.m. Wednesday.

"We appreciate your patience and apologize for any inconvenience you may experience as a result of this delay," said BC Ferries in an update Wednesday afternoon.

"We request that customers with reservations check in at the terminals in accordance with the scheduled sailing times, to maintain their reserved status."

The delay came after BC Ferries already announced that 12 sailings had been cancelled Wednesday due to mechanical issues and strong winds.