{"id":583342,"date":"2026-04-05T07:27:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T07:27:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/583342\/"},"modified":"2026-04-05T07:27:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T07:27:11","slug":"nanaimo-mayor-calls-out-bc-ferries-for-failure-of-service-during-peak-travel-period","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/583342\/","title":{"rendered":"Nanaimo Mayor calls out BC Ferries for ‘failure of service’ during peak travel period"},"content":{"rendered":"

Despite BC Ferries managing to get some boats back in the water on Good Friday, the ripple effect of the past week\u2019s service disruption is not sitting well with the Mayor of Nanaimo.<\/p>\n

Frustration is mounting among Vancouver Island and Gulf Island residents, many of whom rely heavily on ferry service. Nanaimo Mayor Leonard Krog says the situation reflects a long-standing issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cSpeaking on behalf of nearly the one million people who live on Vancouver Island, it\u2019s an ongoing frustration with the failure of service at times when we need it the most,\u201d Krog said. He added the root of the problem is years in the making, pointing to a lack of investment in fleet renewal by successive governments. \u201cThis is essential public infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n

The past week has seen multiple vessel issues impacting major routes. Although the\u00a0Spirit of Vancouver Island\u00a0has returned to service on the busy Tsawwassen-Swartz Bay run<\/a>, BC Ferries is still asking travellers to arrive ahead of scheduled sailings and that stand by spots are limited.<\/p>\n

Watch the full story in the video below:<\/p>\n

Concerns aren\u2019t limited to just major BC Ferry routes. <\/p>\n

Saturday, April 4 BC Ferries alerted travellers that for the second day in a row, all sailings had been cancelled on the Blubber Bay (Texada) \u2013 Westview (Powell River).<\/p>\n

The cancellation comes after a mechanical issue with the propulsion system on the Island Discovery took the vessel out of service, cancelling sailings on Friday. <\/p>\n

In the meantime, BC Ferries says it\u2019s providing foot passenger service on two 12-seater water taxis between Westview and\u00a0Texada Boating Dock (Van Anda)<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Sailings between Chemainus, Penelakut and Thetis Island were shut down for three days after a large tire became tangled in a ferry\u2019s propeller.<\/a><\/p>\n

BC Ferries Marine Workers\u2019 Union president Eric McNeely says service disruptions on any route have a ripple effect across the entire system.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnytime there\u2019s service disruptions, regardless of the route, that creates stress on the system,\u201d he said. \u201cThat stress is also felt by travellers and our members working.\u201d<\/p>\n

McNeely emphasized that frontline workers are not responsible for the broader operational challenges.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose unionized workers aren\u2019t the ones making the decisions. They are the ones putting into action what they can with the resources they\u2019ve been provided,\u201d he said. \u201cAt the end of the day, union members are not the ones who have the yes-or-no vote, that\u2019s at the C-Suite level in Victoria at the atrium.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"A CHEK viewer photo of a tire seemingly stuck in the Pune\u2019luxutth Ferry\u2019s propeller,<\/p>\n

For travellers without reservations, the message has been clear: expect limited standby space, long waits, and in some cases, consider rethinking travel plans altogether.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Despite BC Ferries managing to get some boats back in the water on Good Friday, the ripple effect…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":532473,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[23588,213705,45,49,48,16575,6764,1062],"class_list":{"0":"post-583342","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-bc-ferries","9":"tag-bc-ferry","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-ca","12":"tag-canada","13":"tag-cancellations","14":"tag-ferry","15":"tag-video"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=583342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583342\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/532473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=583342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=583342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=583342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}