A mechanical issue on one of BC Ferries’ vessels has caused several sailings between Swartz Bay in Victoria and Tsawwassen to be cancelled on Tuesday, the ferry operator says.
According to Ratinder Matthew, a BC Ferries spokesperson, the culprit is a starboard generator of the Spirit of Vancouver Island.
And the issue is a familiar one, Matthew adds.
“The Spirit of Vancouver [Island] is out of service due to a generator, but it’s the same generator that was impacted last week, and our engineering team is currently assessing the extent of the issue,” she told 1130 NewsRadio.
On March 22, the same vessel experienced the same issue, prompting the ferry operator to cancel sailings.
The service notice was extended until March 30, just a day before the starboard generator failed work a second time this month.
As a result, the service needed to be adjusted, with six sailings being cancelled – three departing Swartz Bay and three departing Tsawwassen – and four sailings being added to the schedule.
The cancelled sailings:
Swartz Bay to Tsawwassen: 11 a.m., 3 p.m., 7 p.m.
Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay: 1 p.m., 5 p.m., 9 p.m.
Related:
The added sailings:
Swartz Bay to Tsawwassen: 6 p.m., 8 p.m.
Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay: 4 p.m., 10 p.m.
“Customers that are impacted by the cancellations are being contacted directly with rebooking options or refunds, and there are other routes to the island,” Matthew said.
She says that there is no exact timeline for when the vessel can be expected to return to service.
With the Easter weekend ahead, she assures that BC Ferries remains focused on getting passengers from A to B.
“We are working to keep customers moving as efficiently as possible. And this is exactly the kind of situation where an additional relief vessel would really help.”
However, that relief will not come as B.C. Ferries Commissioner Eva Hage only approved four vessels instead of the requested five.
“Last year we did put forward a business case identifying the need for a fifth new vessel to provide real backup capacity that wasn’t approved,” Matthew said.
Decisions on fleet expansion are not within our control, but we will continue to advocate for it. Without that extra vessel, there’s really limited ability to absorb disruptions like this.”
That business case was submitted by B.C. Ferries in February last year, arguing that a fifth ferry would have increased capacity by up to 40 per cent.
However, in March 2025, the commissioner says that the province could not afford a fifth vessel.
The four ferries will be built by a Chinese state-owned shipyard, a procurement deal that created a storm of backlash when announced in June 2025.
The first of the diesel-battery hybrid vessels is scheduled for delivery in 2029.