BC Ferries has cancelled all travel on its Northern Adventure ship following an engine shutdown Wednesday prompted by human error.

BC Ferries spokeswoman Deborah Marshall says somebody put the wrong lubricated oil in the ferry's system causing an engine shutdown.
(Jon Murray/Vancouver Province/Canadian Press)

The vessel was docked in Bella Bella, B.C., Wednesday after contaminated oil caused an engine shutdown, and now all scheduled trips have been cancelled until further notice, the company's media relations director, Deborah Marshall, said Thursday afternoon.

"The vessel is reliable," she told CBC News. "This was an unfortunate situation where in error somebody did put in the wrong lubricated oil in the system. So, it was an honest mistake that somebody had made. [It had] nothing to do with the engine."

The ferry was travelling from Prince Rupert to Port Hardy when the engines shut down, stranding more than 50 passengers in Bella Bella, Marshall said. Most of them have since been flown out.

Both of the ferry's northern routes — Prince Rupert to the Queen Charlotte Islands as well as Prince Rupert to Port Hardy — are suspended.

"We want to make sure everything is up and running on the Northern Adventure before we resume service," Marshall said. "We'll certainly post a modified schedule as soon as we know when the vessel will be back and sailing."

BC Ferries bought the 117-metre ship from Greece and launched it on the route in March 2007.

Less than a month after its introduction, the ferry was pulled from service for a 10-day refit to deal with a host of onboard problems.

The vessel replaced the Queen of the North, which struck an island and sank on March 22, 2006, resulting in the loss of two lives.