Victoria Clipper hit hard by pandemic, suspending service until 2022

VICTORIA (NEWS 1130) — Ferry service on the Victoria Clipper has been suspended due to lack of ridership since it resumed sailings last month.

The ferry served passengers between Victoria and Seattle pre-pandemic and had only restarted its service last month with the approval of the federal government — however it came too late.

CEO David Gudgel says the pandemic has hurt demand and the company has only managed to cover 60 per cent of its operating costs last month.

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He says they made the decision Monday after they examined the viability of the company following the downturn in demand.

“We understood when we restarted service that it was going to be a lesser demand environment than what we’ve experienced in our history. That was one of the reason we went to just departures — just four days a week — to focus on that weekend traffic which is historically greater this time of year,” he said.

He adds, “We wanted to be able to put our crews back to work and that was really the first time we had the opportunity to do that starting September 17.”

“What we’ve found is that our demand was not coming close to meeting those operating costs: the crewing costs, the fuel costs, the port fees and such,” he said.

He says they are going to come back when there is a market and will resume in the spring.

– With files from Dean Reckseidler