It’s still unclear what led a Toronto Island ferry to crash into a dock two years ago, injuring roughly 20 people and sending six to the hospital.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) announced its findings at a news conference Monday morning.
“Our investigation found several safety deficiencies,” TSB chair Kathy Fox told reporters.
The Sam McBride ferry was returning to the Jack Layton Terminal just after 5 p.m. on Aug. 20, 2022, when it collided with the dock, said TSB investigator Étienne Séguin-Bertrand.
No evidence of malfunction, investigators say
At the time, he said, the ferry was running behind schedule, with roughly 910 passengers and six crew members on board.
Séguin-Bertrand said the investigation revealed the ferry was docking at a speed of five knots rather than three knots, which is how fast it had docked on its previous eight trips that day.
For comparison, that means the ferry was coming in at a speed of just over 9 km/h instead of 5 km/h.
“The proportional increase is fairly significant,” Séguin-Bertrand said.
The Sam McBride ferry has two propellers, one at the rear and one at the front of the boat. The TSB investigation found that while both were used on previous dockings, the crew was not able to engage the front propeller as it approached the terminal.
“Given the vessel speed and distance from the dock, the reverse thrust provided by the one propeller was not enough to stop the ferry,” Séguin-Bertrand said.
“While we did not find evidence that there was a malfunction with the engine or the engine control system … we cannot say conclusively that there wasn’t one.”
At the time, Fox said the City of Toronto had no written procedures on safe docking and left it to the discretion of the vessel’s master. She said the city has since introduced written procedures.
Passenger safety key: TSB
Age did not play a role in the collision, Séguin-Bertrand said, noting that old vessels can continue to operate safely if they are kept in good repair.
“We found no issues with the maintenance of the Sam McBride,” he said.
The TSB’s three recommendations are aimed at Transport Canada and deal with crew training around passenger safety management, formal approval processes for evacuation procedures and processes to ensure passenger vessels are keeping an accurate count of all passengers, including separate counts for infants and children.
At the time of the crash, Fox said the crew were not keeping an accurate count of the number of passengers on board the ferries, or how many of those passengers might need extra assistance, such as children and infants.
As a result, she said the number of children on board the Sam McBride when it crashed into the dock exceeded the number of available life jackets.
“Estimating isn’t good enough,” Fox said. “There’s a risk that not all passengers will be accounted for in an emergency.”
CBC Toronto has reached out to the city and Transport Canada for comment.