We have kept our focus on delivering safe, reliable and efficient service in fiscal 2024. Here’s how:
Operating safely, reliably & efficiently
Fare Flexibility
Since offering customers more discounted fare options, we carried record vehicle traffic. On routes between the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island, we carried 5% more passengers than our best-ever year prior to the launch of Fare Flexibility. We also increased capacity utilization on our ships and reduced the number of customers experiencing sailing waits.
More reliable service
In fiscal 2024, 83.3% of sailings departed within 10 minutes of their scheduled departure. We've implemented systems to help us predict vessel maintenance and minimize impacts to customers. We've also replaced the drive motor rotors on our three Coastal Class vessels, helping ensure they operate well during their remaining lifespan.
Fewer cancellations
In fiscal 2024, we saw fewer sailings cancelled (1.3%, down from 1.6% the year before). This was thanks in large part to a 44% drop in crew-related sailing cancellations. We did this through:
- Guaranteed monthly shifts for casual employees
- Increased regular positions across the fleet
- Day-for-day hours of work in the Northern Gulf Island region
- A casual flex availability program for casual employees to have scheduled days off
- An improved BC Ferries crew scheduling application
- Offering better shift work options for crew on major routes
More frequent sailings
We increased service during travel times, including:
- Adding a second vessel between Denman Island and Buckley Bay, with far greater capacity and frequency of service
- Assigning a larger vessel between Hornby Island and Denman Island, providing greater capacity and significantly reducing wait times
- Increasing sailings between Salt Spring Island and Victoria by 20%, increasing daily capacity and frequency, and reducing wait times
Performance against strategic targets Fiscal 2023
Results for Fiscals 2020 through 2023, the target and results for Fiscal 2023 and the target for Fiscal 2025.
{media1}
Safe Sailing
Safety is our highest value. Our safety-focused practices ensure we continue to deliver safe and reliable service to coastal communities.
Safe Sailing
Employee time loss due to injuries decreased 10%, when compared to fiscal 2023. A total of 176 employees were impacted compared to 181 employees the previous year. Between fiscal 2023 and fiscal 2024, the cumulative days lost due to employee injury claims has decreased from 10,473 to 10,239 (2.2% decrease) days away from work. As a result, our performance on the Employee Safety Index improved in the past year.
Passenger injuries in fiscal 2024 were nearly half as frequent as the year prior, decreasing by 46%. A total of 19 passengers were impacted compared to 34 the previous year. Per every one million passengers the above figures combine to make up our Passenger Safety Index (PSI), which has significantly improved this year to 0.84 from 1.58 the previous fiscal. We safely transported higher volumes of passengers with no increase in injuries, resulting in a favorable PSI.
Did you know?
Our Operations & Security Centre (OSC) works 24/7 to manage a wide range of incidents at land and sea, and support smooth operations. In 2023/24, the OSC responded to 10,255 incidents, including:1,059
Customer injuries or illnesses
12
Marine emergencies, in partnership with Canadian Coast Guard
92
Sailings impacted to accommodate BCAS or other emergency services
2023/24 SailSafe report
Over the past 17 years, our SailSafe program has helped monitor and enhance our safety and work culture at BC Ferries. In fiscal 2024, we took a deep dive into how we can improve safety and wellness for our people.Through a series of engagement sessions, pop-ups and town halls with our people, we gathered 1,500 pieces of feedback from 1,000+ employees across 27 worksites, focused on possible safety improvements across the organization.
We’re taking action on what we heard and have begun taking steps to improve onboarding, training, supervision and employee engagement. Learn more about the SailSafe Engagement Report and Recommendations here.
What did we hear?
‘Safety’ means more than just reducing physical risk, but should encompass whole-person wellness, like workload, leadership, training growth and development, and psychological safety. This translates into a happier workplace and makes people more productive and creative.
What are key drivers for positive work culture in the company?
Town halls and engaging leadership were also called out as key drivers that help improve collaboration and create a positive work culture within the company.
Enhancing employee wellness
BC Ferries has a comprehensive employee health and wellness program known as WHEEL – Wellness and Health by Engaging Employees Locally. The WHEEL program is a bursary fund that provides financial support to employees to help them achieve their own individual or group health and wellness goals.
“The wheel fund helped support my favorite winter activity – skiing. It also supported my ability to join a gym and stay active. It helped me with balance in my life.”
– Jenny Skoog
Operations Coordinator, Fleet Maintenance Unit
Commercial services
Over the past year, we continued to support the movement of goods through coastal communities. In fiscal 2024, we worked with key commercial customers to ensure unused reservation capacity could be made available for other customers.Additionally, we successfully implemented a green initiative of barcode asset tracking, in lieu of plastic tags, stopping tens of thousands of plastic tags from ending up in the landfill or ocean.
What's Next?
We’re committed to continuing to build a reliable ferry system, with robust asset maintenance practices that ensure reliable service and support local maintenance, construction and tourism industries.
Our focus will remain building a ferry system that keeps our people safe in a holistic way – focused on not just injury prevention, but emotional and psychological safety as well.
We will continue to explore opportunities to enhance processes, technology and education programs that support the findings of the SailSafe report.