BC Ferries says the Queen of Surrey will be out of service indefinitely after the ferry hit the Stormaway dock while pulling into Langdale Tuesday morning, leaving 285 passengers stranded on board for 10 hours as crews worked to free the ship.
The Surrey, which had just returned to service March 24 after a refit, was on its 7:30 a.m. run from Horseshoe Bay when, according to BC Ferries, “the vessel while making its turn towards the berth came into contact with the end of the marine lead.”
The Surrey was eventually freed just after 6 p.m. after some of the plating from the nose of the lower car deck was cut away so the ship could use Berth 1 and unload normally and Transport Canada gave clearance for the damaged ship to be moved by tugs.
Passenger James Baker of Vancouver said he was on his way down to the main car deck to get ready to walk off when the accident happened.
“I was walking down the steps just about to walk off as you usually do, and I heard ‘brace, brace, brace’ then bang – into the dock. It couldn’t have been more than 10, 15 seconds’ notice,” he said.
Passengers were supplied with free food and drink and were given regular updates through the P.A. system. BC Ferries said it also relaxed the rules on allowing pets in the passenger areas.
“I think they did a pretty good job, considering how sideways things went,” Baker said of the crew.
Other passengers described the atmosphere on board as “cordial,” but said they felt sorry for the people travelling with children, who seemed to be getting bored and restless.
“The ferry has been pretty calm – everyone here is pretty relaxed, though I’ve heard some people understandably complain about starting to get bored,” Steph Halmhofer, who was on her way to the Sunshine Coast for work, told Coast Reporter in a phone call from the vessel while it was still stuck.
It was also a long afternoon for people waiting at the terminal to meet passengers from the Surrey or to catch the next ferry to Horseshoe Bay, including a family of three from Powell River headed to Vancouver for a Wednesday medical appointment who were hoping to catch the 10:50 a.m. sailing.
Brittny Adams told Coast Reporter they heard about the incident while on the Earls Cove ferry earlier, but decided to wait it out at Langdale. “We went to get breakfast, then came back,” she said. “I’ve lived on the Coast my whole life – this is our highway. Over the years I’ve seen quite a few ferry crashes. It’s getting a little ridiculous,” she said.
A group of instructors from the Squamish Dance Centre had been waiting since noon. “We knew about it in the morning and we were quite disappointed,” said Cierrra Rohde, adding that the group was eager to get home but was ‘“quite prepared” and spent the time picnicking and playing cards and board games.
Many of the waiting travellers headed to the nearby beach, where curious onlookers had also gathered to watch the efforts to free the Surrey.
Those efforts involved two Seaspan tugs, spill response teams from the coast guard and West Coast Marine Response, divers brought in to do an underwater inspection and engineers and crews from BC Ferries. The coast guard hovercraft Moytel was also on standby.
BC Ferries set up a water taxi shuttle to carry passengers from Gibsons and Hopkins Landing to Horseshoe Bay and the Stormaway service to Gambier and Keats Islands used Hopkins Landing instead of Langdale for most of the day. BC Ferries said Wednesday morning that it was still waiting for final numbers on how many people took advantage of the water taxis.
Service between Horseshoe Bay and Langdale was able to resume in the evening, with the Queen of Cowichan and the Queen of Oak Bay sailing out of Langdale at 6:40 p.m., 8:55 p.m., and 9:25 p.m. Sunshine Coast Transit added extra trips to “accommodate the extra passenger load expected” for those sailings.
The two floatplane companies serving the Coast, Harbour Air and Sunshine Coast Air, also added extra flights between Sechelt and Vancouver on Tuesday.
Regular service resumed Wednesday morning, after BC Ferries pulled the Queen of Coquitlam from its temporary assignment on the Duke Point-Tsawwassen route, and “paused” the scheduled refits of the Coastal Inspiration and Coastal Celebration so those ships could work the Duke Point-Tsawwassen and Swartz Bay-Tsawwassen routes.
BC Ferries is conducting a full investigation into the cause of the incident, and told Coast Reporter that the Surrey will have to be moved to dry dock to complete inspections and repairs. As of Wednesday morning, the Surrey remained at Langdale, and Ferries said it was still confirming a date to get it into dry dock.
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