Four crossings between Nanaimo and Vancouver are cancelled for Sunday, Jan. 16 due to staff shortages. (File Photo/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

holding in dock

Staffing issues again cancel BC Ferries crossings between Nanaimo & Vancouver

Jan 15, 2022 | 7:19 PM

NANAIMO — BC Ferries are again preemptively cancelling a handful of sailings due to a lack of staff.

In a service notice, the company cited a “staffing issue” behind the cancellation of the 6:15 a.m. and 10:40 a.m. sailings on the Queen of Cowichan from Departure Bay on Sunday, Jan. 16.

Crossings emanating from Horseshoe Bay on the same ship, leaving at 8:25 a.m. and 1 p.m. were also nixed from the schedule.

The company has had to cancel several sailings on major routes in recent weeks for the same reason.

Two round trips between between Duke Point and Tsawwassen were cancelled on Sunday, Jan. 9 as were a slate of evening sailings between Nanaimo and Gabriola Island just after Christmas.

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BC Ferries spokesperson Deborah Marshall told NanaimoNewsNOW on Monday, Jan. 10 the issue of staffing shortages may become more frequent through the winter as the company navigates many factors.

“We’ve got the variant which is causing more employees to call out sick, we’ve got the regular cold and flu season underway, we’ve had some severe winter storms lately that has caused us to tie up our vessels temporarily for safety reasons, and there’s also vaccine policies at play as well.”

It’s expected a majority of the delays will be on smaller, inter-Island routes where crewing requirements are closer to available mariners needed to operate the ship.

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