VICTORIA — The Port Angeles-Victoria ferry, MV Coho, was sailing on its normal summer schedule today after suffering delays of more than three hours Sunday following a truck mishap.
The ferry was idled toward the end of the busy summer weekend after a truck struck a door beam of the 341-foot vessel as vehicles were offloading at the Coho’s Victoria landing.
The semi truck reportedly struck a beam while passing through the starboard exit.
The starboard door is used in Victoria, and the aft doors load and unload vehicles in Port Angeles.
Because the starboard door could not be shut after the truck mishap Sunday, the ferry could not sail across the Strait of Juan de Fuca, delaying the scheduled 3 p.m. sailing until after 6:30 p.m. when crews were able to repair and secure the door.
Traffic was backed up along Belleville Street from the entrance of the ferry terminal to a side street because drivers weren’t allowed to enter the terminal grounds until queued vehicles were allowed to board.
The scheduled 7:30 p.m. departure from Victoria was pushed back to 10:30 p.m., and the 9 p.m. sailing from Port Angeles was delayed past midnight.
It’s been a difficult month for the 53-year-old icon of the cross-Strait route owned by Black Ball Ferry Line.
A faulty communications switch caused the Coho to back into a vacant seaplane dock as the ferry was reversing out of its Inner Harbour landing in Victoria on July 10.
There were no injuries or damage to the Coho, and the harbormaster allowed it to leave after about 10 minutes.
On July 5, the Coho was northbound in the Strait — on the U.S. side of the border — when a passenger became ill.
The Coho was turned around to bring the man to Olympic Medical Center in Port Angeles.
It was the lengthiest turnaround in at least 20 years, a Black Ball spokesman said.
