Passengers aboard Coastal Celebration were stuck on the ship for about an hour Wednesday morning as a power outage in North Saanich meant ramps at Swartz Bay terminal couldn’t be used.
B.C. Ferries spokeswoman Astrid Braunschmidt said the vessel had to hold in the dock while B.C. Hydro crews restored power.
“Once power came back on, the vessel unloaded traffic and resumed service,” she said.
B.C. Hydro spokesman Ted Olynyk said crews were on scene as of 11:20 a.m. and had power back up and running by 12:40 p.m.
B.C. Ferries noted Coastal Celebration would be running about an hour behind schedule as a result of the delay.
It has been a hectic day for B.C. Ferries as the company had to cancel several sailings between Swartz Bay and Tsawwassen due to a mechanical difficulty with Spirit of Vancouver Island.
The ship had a problem with its starboard gearbox, resulting in cancellation of the 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. sailings from Swartz Bay.
The vessel’s remaining Wednesday sailings were also cancelled:
11 a.m departing Swartz Bay
1 p.m. departing Tsawwassen
3 p.m. departing Swartz Bay
5 p.m. departing Tsawwassen
7 p.m. departing Swartz Bay
9 p.m. departing Tsawwassen
Coastal Celebration has been scheduled for additional round trips at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. Wednesday to supplement service between Tsawwassen and Swartz Bay.
Those sailings are now expected to be an hour behind.
B.C. Ferries said in a news release it apologizes for any inconvenience riders may experience as a result of the cancellations.
Customers with reservations are asked to check in at the terminals in accordance with the scheduled sailing times, to maintain their reserved status.
