Two sailings removed from Gabriola ferry schedule – tie-up berth in Nanaimo damaged and unavailable

Derek Kilbourn

Sounder News

BC Ferries has removed the 7:05am and 5:05pm sailings from the Gabriola ferry schedule on a ‘till further notice’ basis. The 5:05pm will remain available on Wednesdays.

This comes after BC Ferries and all other users of the Vessel Visiting Pier were ordered to remove their vessels from the pier on Saturday, November 16. The pier has become compromised, and cannot by used to tie up the second Gabriola ferry when it is not in operation. Until the pier is repaired, BC Ferries is having to tie up the ship at the Departure Bay ferry terminal.

As this means a longer sailing times for the ship to get into operation, the first and last sailings from the second ship’s schedule were removed. Heather O’Sullivan and Stephen Earle, co-Chairs for the Gabriola Ferry Advisory Committee, were in conversations with BC Ferries about what the impact of the schedule change will mean for islanders, and were making suggestions to alleviate this.

BC Ferries staff said crews would be working overtime on Wednesdays to keep the 5:05pm sailing available, as the 5:40pm sailing is Dangerous Cargo. But that this was not something they would be able to do for the other days of the week.

Another suggestion from the FAC was to load the 5:05pm sailing on Gabriola, but unload at Departure Bay, where the ship was going anyway to tie up. BC Ferries has not said yet whether this is an option.

Ian Marr with the Nanaimo Port Authority spoke with the Sounder on Monday, Nov. 18, saying that the Pier had been damaged during some of the storms earlier this month. Some of the chains holding the pier to anchor have become compromised.

Marr said for safety reasons, it was decided to request the vessels on the Pier be removed, and repairs made. He confirmed repairs are expected to take till the end of November. Asked about options for the ferry to berth closer to the terminal, to keep those sailings from being cancelled, Marr said options were presented to BC Ferries, but that BCF staff had chosen not to utilize those options. BCF staff said the usual berth has been modified to suit the BC Ferries’ vessel specifically, as it has a different hull form than conventional vessels.

The alternative berths offered by the Nanaimo Port Authority are not suitable for BCF vessels for this reason, nor would anchorage in the Nanaimo Harbour be a suitable alternative, as BCF crew need to access the shore overnight.