BC Ferries vehicle traffic this spring soared to a new record high

BC Ferries

Vehicle traffic volumes using BC Ferries exceeded pre-pandemic levels in the ferry corporation’s first quarter of the 2022/2023 fiscal year — the three-month period between April 1 and June 30.

The ferry corporation reported today vehicle traffic was up by 3.8% in this latest quarter compared to the same quarter in the 2019/2020 fiscal year, and it also represents a 42% jump compared to the same quarter in the 2021/2022 fiscal year.

The vehicle volumes experienced in Spring 2022 were effectively a new historic record for BC Ferries’ first quarter.

But the rebound in passenger levels has been slower, with the quarter experiencing 6.3% lower traffic compared to the pre-pandemic period.

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Overall, with the pace of the rebound, BC Ferries is on the path of fully recovering in both vehicle and passenger ridership volumes this fiscal year. In contrast, the previous fiscal year of 2021/2022 saw vehicle volumes down by 5% and passenger ridership down by 20% compared to before the pandemic.

During today’s open annual general meeting, BC Ferries interim President and CEO Jill Sharland said the ridership recovery was boosted by the March 2021 launch of new cheaper Saver and Prepaid options are intended to distribute traffic throughout the day on the major routes between Metro Vancouver and Vancouver Island.

On these major routes, 880,000 customers travelled on Saver fares, resulting in a 60% increase in advanced bookings, a 25% decrease in sailing waits, a 5% increase in private vehicles carried, and a 6% increase in capacity utilization with 50% fewer sailings going out less than half full.

The high vehicle and passenger volumes were recorded this past quarter even with the frequency of cancelled sailings due to the ongoing shortage of highly skilled and trained crew, given the strict minimum crew requirements for each sailing. According to the ferry corporation, it cancelled less than 1% of scheduled round trips due to crewing shortages over the past quarter.

Sharland said BC Ferries hired 800 staff to prepare for the busiest summer in years and it was likely the most employees ever hired at any single time.

She conceded that there has been a higher rate of absenteeism for shifts due to fatigue. To address this, moving forward, she says the ferry corporation will create strategies to better keep existing staff happy and committed, while also recruiting from outside the organization.

The strong demand is reflected in BC Ferries’ financial performance, with revenues for the quarter up by $35.7 million compared to the same period in the previous fiscal year. This is mainly the result of elevated vehicle and passenger volumes and the increase in food, beverage, and retail sales, as well as a partial offset from BC Ferries’ remaining Safe Restart Funding pandemic-time operating subsidy received from the provincial and federal governments.

When the Safe Restart Funding is excluded, BC Ferries’ revenues over the quarter increased to $93 million compared to the same period in the last fiscal year. Net earnings for the quarter were $7.9 million compared to $4.7 million in the same period the previous year.

Operating expenses for the ferry corporation over the quarter jumped by $31.3 million to $242.1 million compared to the same period in 2021. This is mainly due to an increased number of sailings — which results in higher labour costs and fuel consumption — and higher fuel prices.

During today’s meeting, Sharland explained that BC Ferries is now shifting from pandemic recovery toward meeting the needs of its customers and pursuing much-needed capital infrastructure upgrades.

Prior to the pandemic, BC Ferries began the planning process for replacing all five C-class ships, which are some of the largest vessels on the fleet, running from Metro Vancouver to Vancouver Island and the Sunshine Coast. These vessels were built in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Sharland said the pandemic bumped the timeline for replacing these vessels by five years.

The ferry corporation is currently sailing through some rough political waters.

Last month, Mark Collins, the CEO of BC Ferries since 2017, was fired from his position — just weeks after former BC NDP minister and ICBC chair Joy MacPhail was appointed as the new chair of the ferry corporation’s board.

Earlier this year, the provincial government put forward proposed legislation that could bring BC Ferries back under direct government control, but in a way that is just short of reverting it back into a crown corporation. If the legislation is approved, it would provide the BC Ferry Authority with new oversight powers that override the corporate board and other ferry corporation leaders. For two decades, BC Ferries has been structured as a private company, with the provincial government as its only shareholder.

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