Wolfe Islanders stranded for hours after new ferry damaged
Kingston, ON – Just over three months after their new electric ferry finally came into service, Wolfe Islanders found themselves in a frustratingly familiar situation on Wednesday — stranded for hours at the dock in Kingston, Ont., without a working boat to get them home.
Around 11:50 a.m., the Wolfe Islander IV (WI4) “sustained minor damage” while making trip to the mainland, according to Ontario’s Ministry of Transportation, which said all passengers were transported safely and an investigation is underway.
A spokesperson for the ministry did not immediately respond to a media request asking what caused the damage, and when it’s expected to be repaired.
Wolfe Island resident Carone Beaucage said her neighbor was aboard the ferry when it appeared to be blown off course and told her she heard a bang — similar to the sound the vessel makes when it collides with ice.
“Afterwards they realized, ‘OK, this is a bigger problem,” she explained. “That’s when divers were arriving and then the boat, I guess, was taking on a bit of water.”
Beaucage was in Kingston at the time and had planned to catch the ferry back home that afternoon. Instead, she — along with many islanders — was stuck in the city overnight.
A transport truck turns past lines of parked cars on a snowy, grey day. She and five other stranded passengers, some of whom were strangers to their hosts, were fed by her friends, who also let them stay at their downtown home.
“We were very lucky because there were people who were in the line [for the ferry] from 1 p.m. until 1 a.m. or longer,” Beaucage told CBC in a phone interview with CBC around 9:30 a.m. Thursday after she finally got home.
After years of construction delays and waiting for WI4 to enter service, people are fed up, she said. “Do we have faith in the new boat? I don’t think so,” said Beaucage. “Do we have faith in MTO telling us what’s happening with the new boat? We don’t.”
Roughly an hour after the vessel was damaged, a social media account for the ferry service stated the WI4 would be “holding in Kingston until further notice.” It wasn’t until after 5 p.m. that the ministry shared any update, announcing the Wolfe Islander III would be taking over as a replacement.
The older boat began carrying passengers until 12:45 a.m., more than 12 hours after its counterpart was damaged. It ran on demand to clear the backlog before reverting to hourly trips, according to the ferry’s social media account.
The latest outage and limited communication follows a weekend of disruptions MTO said were caused by problems with an onboard generator and navigational lights. Those headaches are reminiscent of the reliability issues that sometimes plagued the previous vessel.
CBC News
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