Mechanical issue with ferry halts service

B.C. Ferries had to cancel a number of sailings Sunday between Tsawwassen and Swartz Bay because of mechanical trouble on the Queen of New Westminster.

The ferry was having issues with its controllable pitch propellers and couldn’t sail until it was repaired.

The 8 a.m. sailing from Tsawwassen and 10 a.m. sailing from Swartz Bay were initially cancelled while engineers and technicians worked to repair the problem and then perform tests away from the dock. B.C. Ferries later cancelled all remaining sailings that would have used the Queen of New Westminster on Sunday.

“We do sincerely apologize for the inconvenience,” B.C. Ferries communications manager Tessa Humphries said.

Anyone who made a reservation on one of the affected sailings were to have their reservation fee refunded and were to be placed on the next available sailing, she said.

The other ferries on the Tsawwassen- Swartz Bay run — the Spirit of Vancouver Island, the Spirit of British Columbia and the Coastal Celebration — were all operating as normal.

No customers will be left behind, Humphries said on Sunday afternoon, and should demand require it, a final round-trip service was to be added at the end of the day. The final scheduled sailing from each terminal is at 10 p.m.

“We’re going to make sure people get home,” Humphries said.

The Queen of New Westminster entered service in 1964 as one of a class of seven ferries and is the only one of the class still operating. The ferry has been refit and modernized several times over the last five decades and is expected to remain in service for another decade or so.

It’s not known when the ferry, which can carry up to 1,332 people and 270 vehicles, will be back in service, Humphries said.