After a couple of rough summers, BC Ferries is promising this year’s travel season will be much smoother than years gone by.
Darren Johnston, vice president of marine operations with ferry service, says the company’s vessels are in good shape, and BC Ferries has increased its staff.
“The risk of cancellations or service disruption as a result of crewing issues is significantly lower this year than last year,” he said in an update Wednesday. “And in particular, the year before when we had some really significant challenges in this area.”
Jonhston says vessels that were sidelined due to mechanical issues are now back in service.
“We’ve made changes over the last year in order to ensure that all 37 vessels in the fleet are ready to go in June of this year for the peak season,” he said.
He adds that BC Ferries will finish its annual re-fits about three weeks ahead of schedule, which will give it plenty of time to respond if any unplanned issues arise.
“We’re ready in respect of ensuring that the fleet is as reliable as it can be coming out of the season, [for] the start of the peak summer busy period.
“We’re also ready in the sense that if something does go wrong during the peak season, we’ll be prepared to deal with it.”
Johnston says this should be BC Ferries’ smoothest season so far, adding that it knows customers have high expectations for the ferry service.