Lack of training cited as cause of 2024 collision with river shuttle

After a pleasure boat collided with a shuttle on the St. Lawrence River, the TSB says more training is needed for pleasure boat operators. (TSB)

The operator of a pleasure craft lacked training, leading to the collision between his boat and a river shuttle operating between Boucherville, on Montreal’s South Shore, and the Old Port on June 27, 2024.

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) published its investigation report into the collision on Thursday.

Several of the 38 passengers on the Faucon Millennium shuttle, operated by Navark, were injured, with eight people – including a child – requiring hospitalization. As for the pleasure craft, five of the six passengers were injured. Injuries aboard both boats ranged from minor to serious, but the TSB declined to elaborate.

In an interview with The Canadian Press, the board’s chair, Yoan Marier, explained that “during their transit, the two vessels found themselves heading towards each other at a fairly high speed—we’re talking about approximately 52 knots, which is 96 km/h in total speed as they headed towards each other — and neither of the two skippers altered their speed or course during the approach.”

“In the best-case scenario, we would still have been talking about a fairly close pass between the two vessels, but a few seconds before the two vessels passed each other, the pleasure craft veered slightly to the left and then found itself directly in front of the Navark Faucon Millennium, which caused a collision between the two vessels. So, the hypothesis put forward in the report is that this last-second turn was due to a phenomenon known as dynamic instability, which occurs on boats when they are operating at high speed. It only takes a minor disturbance—such as a wave, the movements of another boat, or the wind—to cause sudden, somewhat unpredictable changes in course.”

High-speed ‘planing’

The “cigarette boat” is a type of pleasure craft which, when travelling at speed, lifts off the surface—a phenomenon known as planing, explained Marier.

“Its contact area with the water is reduced and at that speed—at high speed—these boats tend to become more unstable. And so, any minor disturbance—it could be a wave, it could be another boat passing close by—will cause changes in course that can be difficult to anticipate.”

According to the TSB investigation, “although the pleasure craft operator held a valid Pleasure Craft Operator Card (PCOC) and had over 20 years’ experience in recreational boating, his training and experience had not sufficiently prepared him to assess the risk of collision in such a complex environment.”

The board is recommending that Transport Canada review the Pleasure Craft Operator Competency Program “to ensure that pleasure craft operators acquire and maintain a sufficient level of knowledge to cope with the specific conditions in which they are operating.”

Insufficient licence in complex environments

As the TSB Chair noted, this is not the first time that an investigation into this type of incident has revealed shortcomings in PCOCs.

“What really emerged from this investigation, and also from other investigations we have conducted in the past, is that the Pleasure Craft Operator Card—the famous boat licence that everyone carries in their wallet—does not provide pleasure craft operators with the skills and knowledge they need to operate in complex environments. It may be sufficient for someone who has a small boat moored in front of their lakeside cottage, but when we’re talking about operating around the Port of Montreal, near the locks, we’re talking about a highly complex 360-degree environment, and the three-hour theoretical training required to obtain this licence is not sufficient for that sort of environment.”

The TSB highlighted in its report that no practical training is required to obtain the PCOC and that the PCOC manuals contain “little guidance on boat manoeuvrability, the behaviour of high-speed craft, and effective manoeuvres to comply with the Collision Regulations when navigating near other vessels, including large commercial ships. Furthermore, the PCOC does not expire, requires no refresher training, and makes no distinction between low-complexity and high-complexity navigation environments.”

Graduated licences?

One of the proposals put forward by the TSB would be to issue different licences depending on the conditions in which boaters operate, explained Marier.

“We believe there may be several ways to address this safety issue. The graduated licensing system is one example that we believe could help.”

Recreational boating carries inherent safety risks, said the TSB. Between 2012 and 2021, an average of 106 lives were lost each year in incidents related to recreational boating, 57 per cent of which involved motorboats.

In September 2024, the Sûreté du Québec said no criminal charges would be laid against the pleasure craft operator, as the collision was considered an accident.

The SQ had, in particular, looked into the possibility that it was a hit-and-run, as the pleasure craft had continued on its way after the impact, but the TSB report states that the occupants contacted 911 within minutes of the collision to report the incident.

The shipowner, Navark, had not yet returned calls by The Canadian Press at the time of writing.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on May 21, 2026.