The Ontario Ministry of Transportation has confirmed they are looking into last weekend's Pelee Island Ferry problems.
Ferry runs to the island on the new Pelee Islander II vessel were stopped on Sunday because of fishflies invading her engine cooling water system. Another vessel, the Jiimaan, was pressed into service as a backup, but on Canada Day, the ship anchored in Lake Erie so crews could shift fuel, an operation that took much longer than anticipated and left passengers stranded on board for several hours. Food and other supplies were run out to the disabled ferry to support those passengers.
In an email to BlackburnNewsWindsor.com, MTO spokesman Bob Nichols said the ministry is actively looking into what went wrong on both ferries.
"We expect the investigation into the disruption on the Jiimaan, as well as a review of engine cooling procedures on the Pelee Islander II, will result in new preventative maintenance protocols and stricter operating procedures to reduce the likelihood of similar disruptions in the future," said Nichols.
Nichols said it was not immediately clear what caused the issue surrounding the fuel shift operation on the Jiimaan.
The MTO said ferry service was not wholly paralysed, however, with the Pelee Islander I still making runs from the Ontario mainland. Scheduled trips to and from Sandusky, Ohio were cancelled so the backlog of passengers in Ontario could be cleared. Passengers who did not complete a voyage were offered a refund or rebooked on another vessel.
Nichols said the Pelee Islander II was cleared to resume service around 6:30 p.m. Monday.
For complete information about the vessels and procedures regarding them, visit the Pelee Island Ferry's official page with Ontario Ferries.
