A mechanical issue on a BC Ferries vessel left passengers travelling between the Sunshine Coast and Metro Vancouver stranded at sea for hours, according to the company.
The 10:50 a.m. sailing from Langdale was scheduled to arrive at Horseshoe Bay at 11:32 a.m. Instead, passengers waited hours for a tug to arrive to pull the vessel to shore and arrived around 3:30 p.m.
“Both vessels supporting this route this weekend are approaching 50 years of age. As vessels age, maintenance becomes more frequent and complex - reinforcing the importance of our long-term fleet renewal strategy to improve reliability, add capacity, and better support growing demand,” a statement from BC Ferries said.
“We appreciate everyone’s patience and understanding as we work to keep customers moving and restore full service as quickly and safely as possible.”
The issue also resulted in four sailings being cancelled. Water taxis were brought in to shuttle passengers along the route and service was set to resume with the 4:20 p.m. departure out of Horseshoe Bay.
The mishap and cancellations came on what was anticipated to be a busy travel day as many return from trips for the Easter long weekend. On Friday, traffic to the Horseshoe Bay terminal got so backed up that police were sent to turn vehicles without reservations around.
