B.C. Ferries adds more than 100 extra sailings ahead of long weekend

After months of crew shortages and cancelled sailings, B.C. Ferries has hired hundreds of new staff and scheduled more sailings for its busiest South Coast routes on the May long weekend.

Ferry reservations to some locations had already been booked up weeks ago, but now the ferry service says it has created 110 extra sailings from May 19-24, most of which are between Vancouver and Victoria.

There are 74 new sailings on the Tsawwassen-Swartz Bay route, including some early morning departures.

Another 25 sailings have been added between Horseshoe Bay in West Vancouver and Departure Bay in Nanaimo, and there are 11 new sailings between Horseshoe Bay and Langdaleon the Sunshine Coast.

Those leaving their vehicles behind are encouraged to arrive early, because parking at ferry terminals fills up quickly.

B.C. Ferries expects to see 300,000 passengers take one of 2,400 total scheduled ferries over the course of the long weekend. Over the Easter weekend, sailings were cancelled because of high winds, creating chaos during already busy travel days.