BC Ferries ship returning to Victoria-Vancouver route after repairs
The Coastal Celebration vessel will be returning to service on the major route between Tsawwassen and Swartz Bay this Friday, July 28, after being forced to suddenly go out of service last week due to technical issues.
BC Ferries announced this afternoon the ship went into the shipyard dry dock on Monday to begin the process of determining the repairs needed for the ineffective blade seal. During the inspection process, it was determined that the components were installed correctly, but the root cause of the issue was a failure of the seal material itself.
Sailings on the Coastal Celebration have been suspended since the afternoon of Thursday, July 19, after the discovery of a suspected oil leak.
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The ferry corporation states the four-blade seals are now in the process of being replaced. Each of the four, two-tonne propeller blades is connected to a 12-tonne propeller hub with eight large bolts
These repairs will be completed throughout tonight, and then on Thursday night, the vessel will be refloated for sea trials conducted en route to Swartz Bay.
The ability for the Coastal Celebration to return to service on Friday in time for the start of the busy weekend traffic volumes between Metro Vancouver and Greater Victoria depends on the successful completion of sea trials.
It is noted that onboard food services may be limited on Friday due to the limited turnaround time to restore the vessel between its arrival at Swartz Bay and its first sailing of the day.
BC Ferries is advising passengers booked on the Coastal Celebration on Friday to arrive as planned. If there are any changes to the scheduled return of the vessel on Friday, the impacted passengers will be contacted by the ferry company.
The Coastal Celebration accounts for a major portion of the high capacity needed to fill the demand between Tsawwassen and Swartz Bay ferry terminals. The 2008-built ship performs eight sailings per day, with a design capacity of 1,604 passengers and crew and 310 vehicles.
The vessel’s absence was greatly noticed with increased waiting times on the route over the past week.
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