Marine transportation

The occurrence

On August 20, 2022, the Sam McBride departed Centre Island toward Toronto’s Jack Layton Ferry Terminal with six crew and approximately 910 passengers on board. Earlier that day, the ferry had completed eight crossings, six of which were at full capacity. It was behind schedule, which is not unusual on a busy summer day. Shortly after 5:00 PM local time, the ferry struck the dock while berthing, resulting in approximately 20 passengers standing on or above the stairs being injured, mainly from losing their footing and falling.

Investigations conducted by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) are complex since an accident rarely results from a single cause. In the case of the August 2022 striking of berth of passenger ferry Sam McBride in Toronto, Ontario, which resulted in 20 passengers sustaining injuries, several factors led to the accident. The four findings below detail the causes and contributing factors that led to this occurrence.

The occurrence

On 21 October 2021, the container vessel ZIM Kingston, with 21 crew members on board experienced parametric rolling, rolled 36°, and lost 109 containers overboard while drifting at La Perouse Bank, about 27 nautical miles south of Ucluelet, British Columbia (BC). A number of containers on deck were also damaged. Around 36 hours later, while the vessel was anchored off Victoria, BC, a fire broke out in a damaged container that held dangerous goods.