Crew illness, global shortage of mariners blamed for cancelled BC Ferries sailings
The president and CEO of BC Ferries is blaming the cancellation of two sailings between Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland on an unfortunate coincidence and a global shortage of experienced mariners.
The provincial ferry operator cancelled a pair of sailings on the Queen of New Westminster on Wednesday evening, citing a shortage of staff.
In a statement to CTV News Vancouver Island on Thursday, the company's president and CEO Mark Collins elaborated on the precise cause of the shortage.
"BC Ferries cancelled two sailings of the Queen of New Westminster Wednesday evening due to unavailability of three ship’s officers due to non-COVID related illness," Collins said.
Typically, in such situations, the ferry service would call on members of its pool of extra crew members, according to Collins.
"For many years, as a normal part of its business, BC Ferries has retained extra crew to mitigate the risk of loss of service due to crewing absences," he said. "In this case, the three individuals were at the same location, making it challenging to find enough replacements on short notice."
Exacerbating the problem is a global shortage of experienced mariners, Collins said.
"We are actively recruiting for approximately 60 officer and 50 other key positions to create even greater redundancy in the system," he said. "Unfortunately, the global shortage means qualified mariners are very difficult to find."
All of the passengers who had reserved space on the two cancelled sailings have now been accommodated on alternate sailings, Collins said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'They needed people inside Air Canada:' Police announce arrests in Pearson gold heist
Police say one former and one current employee of Air Canada are among the nine suspects that are facing charges in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year.
Why drivers in Eastern Canada could see big gas price spikes, and other Canadians won't
Drivers in Eastern Canada face a big increase in gas prices because of various factors, especially the higher cost of the summer blend, industry analysts say.
Customers disappointed after email listing $60K Tim Hortons prize sent in error
Several Tim Horton’s customers are feeling great disappointment after being told by the company that an email stating they won a boat worth nearly $60,000 was sent in error.
Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter banned from NBA
Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter has been handed a lifetime ban from The National Basketball Association (NBA) following an investigation which found he disclosed confidential information to sports bettors, the league says.
House admonishes ArriveCan contractor in rare parliamentary show of power
MPs enacted an extraordinary, rarely used parliamentary power on Wednesday, summonsing an ArriveCan contractor to appear before the House of Commons where he was admonished publicly and forced to provide answers to the questions MPs said he'd previously evaded.
Woman who pressured boyfriend to kill his ex in 2000s granted absences from prison
A woman who pressured her boyfriend into killing his teenage ex more than a decade ago will be allowed to leave prison for weeks at a time.
Attempt to have murder charge quashed against alleged serial killer dismissed by judge
A motion filed by the man accused of killing four Indigenous women in Winnipeg to have one of those murder charges quashed has been dismissed by the judge – weeks before the start of his trial.
Government proposes new policy for federally regulated employees to disconnect from work
In their 2024 budget, the federal government wants to amend the Canada Labour Code, so employers in federally regulated sectors will eliminate work-related communication with employees outside of scheduled hours. If implemented, this would affect roughly 500,000 employees across the country.
Earthquake jolts southern Japan
An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.4 hit southern Japan late on Wednesday, said the Japan Meteorological Agency, without issuing a tsunami warning.