BC Ferries is warning customers that it's getting ready to ask for another fuel surcharge - for the second time in less than six months.
Prices on most routes are also going up on Nov. 1 as part of the regularly-scheduled increase. The fuel surcharge will be over and above this increase, which ranges from 2.8-percent on the major routes and 4.4-percent on the minor ones. On the Kwuna, the Nov. 1 increase will raise the cost of a vehicle by 55 cents and the cost of a passenger by 25 cents.
The Skidegate-Prince Rupert and Rupert-Port Hardy routes will not see a price increase on Nov. 1 because the price was already hiked Sept. 6, said spokesperson Deborah Marshall.
The increase was delayed from last November in order to give tour operators a chance to plan ahead, she said. The next regular price increase on the northern routes will take effect next Oct. 1.
As for the second fuel surcharge, the company is getting its application ready to submit to the BC Ferry Commissioner in the next couple of weeks. The BC Ferry Commissioner will have up to 60 days to review the application and decide. In July, the commissioner allowed BC Ferries to start charging a fuel surcharge of 4-percent on the major routes and 6-percent on all other routes.