As people from across the country and the globe begin the vacation season, BC Ferries is adding two additional sailings to Haida Gwaii in June to keep up with demand.
The Northern Adventure will make unexpected sailings between Prince Rupert and Skidegate on Monday, June 8 and Monday, June 15 in order to address a backlog of customers wishing to access Haida Gwaii.
"We've been monitoring the situation and talking to our customers and in order to reduce waits for customers who couldn't secure a reservation on a sailing of their choice we are adding extra capacity between now and the start of our summer schedule which ramps up on June 19," explained BC Ferries spokesperson Deborah Marshall.
"While overloads are a reality in our business, we are seeing some extraordinary overloads and we wanted to take care of the backlog of demand."
The extra sailings depart Skidegate at 10 a.m. and arrive in Prince Rupert at 5 p.m. on Monday before leaving Prince Rupert again at 10 p.m. and arriving at 6 a.m. Marshall said there is "a good chance" the sailings won't break even financially, but said the decision was made in light of the increased demand. The extra sailings, she said, will serve as somewhat of a stopgap between the winter schedule and the start of the summer season on June 19.
"After June 18, there is reservable space available for booking. We expect these two extra sailings to clear the stand-by lists," she said.
"Once summer schedule starts, we don't expect any capacity issues with this route."