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 neighbour 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 leaves the line for the Wolfe Islander IV on Dec. 4, 2024. Islanders and other visitors were stranded for hours after the ferry was damaged. (Dan Taekema/CBC)
She and five other stranded passenger, 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.”
MTO slow to share updates
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.
When the new ferry came into service Aug. 17 it brought with it an 80-minute schedule. Residents including Frontenac Islands Mayor Judy Greenwood-Speers have said that would cripple the island.
“We are reliant on one slower boat when we were promised dual boat service,” she said. “It’s real for us…. This is the only lifeline we have to the island.”
Ferry needed to recharge after 2 ambulance trips
Last month, a group of concerned islanders presented a petition at Queen’s Park calling on the provincial government to improve the WI4’s service.
Specifically, they raised safety concerns: Paramedics haven’t been stationed on the island since last year, so they rely on the ferry to transport ambulances to and from the mainland during emergencies.
A 2024 report from Frontenac Paramedics lists the average ambulance response time for Frontenac Islands as 39:11, with 90 per cent of calls seeing a response within 56:32.
Last weekend presented a new obstacle to emergency response: On Saturday, following back-to-back runs to transport ambulances, the WI4 was taken out of service because its batteries needed to recharge.
Workers could be seen feeding a hose over the side of the ferry shortly after noon on Dec. 4. (Dan Taekema/CBC)
The electric ferry is capable of making two round trips before it needs to charge up, according to Tanya Blazina, a ministry spokesperson. During normal operations it can fully charge during the approximately 20 minutes it takes to load vehicles, but that wasn’t possible Saturday when it responded to 911 calls, she added.
While the fact the WI4 is electric was celebrated by the government when the purchase was announced in 2018, Blazina said it’s currently relying on diesel generators to maintain power.
The need to travel at a higher speed while responding to an emergency drains the battery faster than the generators can replace it, the spokesperson explained.
“In the event that there may have been a third ambulance call, the ferry would be able to draw additional power from the batteries on an emergency basis — but standing operating procedures require recharging after two calls,” she wrote in an email.
At 6:39 p.m. on Saturday, the ferry’s social media account said the WI4 would be departing about 20 later, pointing to the need to recharge, which would be “needed to deal with the strong winds.”
MTO said while it was windy that night, the ferry has been tested and is safe in challenging conditions, and the weather wasn’t a factor in the decision to take the boat out of service and recharge. The ministry said all charging infrastructure for the WI4 is expected to be installed by early next year.
No plans for paramedics to return to island
Frontenac Paramedic Chief Marc Goudie said while the current charging limitations of the WI4 are a “concern,” there are other options including Ornge Air Ambulance flying in from Ottawa or calling in the Canadian Coast Guard, as was done earlier this year.
Paramedics responded to more than 31,000 calls last year, of which 155 were on Wolfe Island, according to the service.
A Frontenac Paramedics ambulance drives past the Wolfe Islander IV on Dec. 4, 2024, after it was damaged and taken out of service. Residents of the island rely on the ferry in emergencies, but say issues with the new boat are raising safety concerns. (Dan Taekema/CBC)
Goudie added at this time there are no plans to once again post paramedics on the island, pointing to its smaller population and lower call demand.
“We need to be very mindful and very careful about placing the resources where they are going to do the most good for the most amount of people,” he said.
For Beaucage and other islanders, the introduction of the new ferry hasn’t been a source of comfort, and concerns keep mounting.
“Frustration for everybody, absolutely, and anger,” she said, describing how they’re feeling. “Accidents happen … but it’s the way that these things have been handled that’s not OK.”