Passengers who were bound for Duke Point ferry terminal on Tuesday will be compensated after their sailing was cancelled when the shipsa国际传媒檚 second officer fell ill.
The incident happened at the Tsawwassen ferry terminal and affected about 20 passengers of the Coastal Inspiration for the 8:15 p.m. sailing to Duke Point, said Deborah Marshall, B.C. Ferries spokeswoman.
sa国际传媒淭he second officer fell ill and had to disembark the vessel at Duke Point and had to go to the hospital,sa国际传媒� said Marshall. sa国际传媒淪o that happened at about 8 p.m. We couldnsa国际传媒檛 find a replacement officer on such short notice and so what happened was that actually took us below our Transport Canada licence to carry passengers.sa国际传媒�
Marshall said customers at Duke Point were given the option to head to Departure Bay terminal for the 10:10 p.m. sailing to Horsehoe Bay or wait for the 10:45 p.m. sailing from Duke Point.
sa国际传媒淯nfortunately with the customers at Tsawwassen, by the time everything got sorted out, it was too late to direct customers over to the 9 p.m. sailing to Swartz Bay, so those customers didnsa国际传媒檛 have an option that evening,sa国际传媒� said Marshall.
Marshall said the Tsawwassen customerssa国际传媒� contact information was taken and B.C. Ferries is reaching out.
Having a proper amount of crew is necessary, Marshall said, and the second officer is a critical position.
sa国际传媒淲ith Transport Canada requirements, those licences are in place so that we could perform all the duties that need to be done on board and also for life-saving in the unlikely event that we would have to evacuate a vessel,sa国际传媒� said Marshall. sa国际传媒淲e need all crew members in place to be able to carry out the duties sa国际传媒� theresa国际传媒檚 a multitude of different tasks and we do have to have the right number of crew in the right positions.sa国际传媒�
Marshall said sa国际传媒渋tsa国际传媒檚 very rare for this type of situation to happensa国际传媒� and said B.C. Ferries apologizes to customers who were inconvenienced.
reporter@nanaimobulletin.com
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