The president of the BC Ferry and Marine Workers Union says its workers are doing everything they can to keep ferries running.

It has been another frustrating weekend for passengers of BC Ferries, with cancellations and delays after breakdowns and vessels undergoing scheduled maintenance.

Only 40 minutes after re-entering service, several sailings of the Queen of Surrey were cancelled on Sunday due to a mechanical issue.

The Spirit of Vancouver Island broke down on Tuesday after only being in service for two days.

“I think what we’re seeing here is the result of multiple things coming together,” Eric McNeely, the president of the BC Ferry and Marine Workers Union, told Global News on Sunday.

“That’s an ageing fleet, maintenance that’s under pressure and planning that really hasn’t kept pace with the demand. So our engineering crews are working as much as they can to get the vessels back into service. But as vessels get older, they require more maintenance and they require the resources to do that.”

McNeely said the union has highlighted the need for a buffer period when vessels return to service to ensure they are ready.

“The duration for which vessels are in a refit has been compressed, meaning that more work has to be done in shorter periods of time,” he added. “I speak with the people at our maintenance facility, and they’re working seven days a week, you know just trying to get as many vessels through the maintenance system as possible.”

Last March, the British Columbia Ferries Commissioner approved four new major vessels for its fleet to replace the aging Queens of Alberni, New Westminster, Coquitlam and Cowichan, which are the oldest major ships still in use.

BC Ferries applied for five new diesel-battery hybrid, all-electric-ready ships, but the independent British Columbia Ferries Commissioner approved four.

BC Ferries has said the need for that fifth vessel is great.

However, McNeely said this is a problem that has been decades in the making.

“There’s no surprise that vessels had to be replaced,” he said.

“The Queen of New Westminster is over 60 years old, and that’s very uncommon in salt water and in a ferry fleet that’s been running that long. So we’re looking right now at addressing a programme that’s existed or has been known to exist for a long time. And that includes planning that began back in 2016, 2017, about beginning to replace these large major vessels in 2022, 2023.”

The new vessels, being built in China, are not expected to be in B.C. until 2029 and 2031.

“I think that’s a challenge with leadership both within BC Ferries, the authority board, the commissioner and the province,” McNeely said.

“I think there needs to be a real look at how funding is provided to BC Ferries as a public service as part of the highway system. Both federally and provincially. Sort of in the short term, what I think there could be is, you know, there needs to be a bit more money for refits, a bit more time for refit, and we need to look at what does the future look like for building vessels and maintaining vessels here in Canada?”

McNeely acknowledged that it is a challenging time for BC Ferries, with multiple vessels needing maintenance and potable water issues on board some vessels.

“If you think it’s stressful trying to travel to a family event or a friend event or get away for the long weekend. Imagine going to work and having a vessel that isn’t there or imagine jumping ships because your ship broke down or being in a ticket booth where you’re trying to tell hundreds or maybe thousands of people, ‘I’m sorry, your plans are no longer possible and it’s outside my control’,” he said.

“And the vast majority of people that work at BC Ferries that wear a uniform, those are unionized workers. And they’re not the ones who have the ability to say yes or no or make long-term planning decisions, or provide finances for a refit or a maintenance project. We’re left sort of facing the public without the ability to make the changes that our members see are necessary.”

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