Provincial Transportation Minister Blair Lekstrom has quietly rejected BC Ferries’ proposal to cut up to 400 round-trip sailings from its schedule to cope with growing losses, Business in Vancouver has learned.
Ferries spokeswoman Deborah Marshall confirmed the province rejected the proposal late last month, but didn’t provide details as to why it was rejected.
“They are awaiting the commissioner’s review,” said Marshall, referring to the BC Ferry Commission’s yet-to-be-seen review of the organization. “But [it’s] probably best if you wanted to talk to them about their decision.”
Through a freedom of information request, BIV has obtained a copy of former BC Ferries president and CEO David Hahn’s confidential proposal to the minister outlining what sailings were to be cut, when and how much the corporation expected to save.
The sailing reductions were part of a cost containment strategy aimed at helping the company stem its losses amid multi-decade low passenger and vehicle counts, but business owners were concerned the cuts would negatively affect their ability to move goods between the mainland and Vancouver Island. (See “New wave of cost-cutting measures aims to bail out embattled BC Ferries” – issue 1154; December 6-12, 2011.)
Hahn announced the proposal last August and was at the time reported to have said the cuts would affect only Friday and Sunday extra sailings during the off-season.
However, the application revealed the cuts could extend to August 31, 2012, well into the busy summer season, and could affect weekday and holiday sailings.
Check out next week’s edition of BIV for more on this story.
Joel McKay
@jmckaybiv