There were tense moments at a ferry terminal outside Victoria, British Columbia, on Friday after the lion’s share of waiting spots on a first departure were claimed by passengers. guaranteed loading,” leaving regular customers who had been waiting for hours without luck.

Video taken inside the Swartz Bay terminal shows frustrated waiting ticket holders arguing with staff after they were unable to board at 7 a.m. to Tsawwassen.

“It’s an absolute travesty,” said one woman who told a BC Ferries employee she had been waiting in line since 3:30 a.m.

“Two vehicles boarded, without reservation,” shouted a utility vehicle driver, who claimed to have been there since 3:45 a.m.

The problem, according to BC Ferries, was that an abnormal number of “guaranteed load” passengers had arrived on this particular trip.

Insured charging cards guarantee passengers a place, with a standard vehicle, on three of BC Ferries’ busiest routes, provided they arrive at least 20 minutes before departure.

This convenience comes at a price, however: The cards are sold in packs of 10 for $1,880, putting them out of reach for many travelers.

“PEOPLE HAVE BEEN ENOUGH CONFRONTED”

Friday’s lively interaction at the Swartz Bay Terminal was captured by Mike Waters, another would-be passenger who showed up at 5 a.m. hoping to head to the mainland for two business meetings Friday. He missed them both.

Waters said things became so tense inside that BC Ferries threatened to call the police.

“People were pretty upset,” he said. “The terminal manager came to evacuate people from the area.”

Although he found the anger shown by other customers toward BC Ferries staff to be misdirected, he was also stunned to not be able to board, even though he was 10th in line for departure.

“I’m used to long wait times, multiple navigations, etc., but it’s definitely gotten worse,” he said. “This is the worst I’ve seen.”

The ship, the Spirit of Vancouver Island, has a capacity of 358 vehicles, and about 77 percent of those spaces have been reserved in advance.

That means there were 82 vacancies before the 7 a.m. departure — but only eight emergency vehicles made it, according to BC Ferries.

Spokesman Jeff Groot said those vehicles included tractor-trailers and other utility vehicles, so they took up 12 of the available spots. The other 70 were claimed by passengers with an assured cargo card.

FERRIES EARLIER BOOKING

While this is an unusually high turnout, ferries have become busier in recent years, with more weekday reservations filling in advance and longer wait times for those waiting .

This could encourage more passengers to pay for guaranteed boarding.

“It’s something we’re monitoring to see if it’s a new trend,” Groot said. “So more and more customers are going to be looking to purchase these assured load cards to make sure that they have the confidence that they can get through.”

BC Ferries is already looking to ease pressure on the system, hoping to build five new ships with 40 percent more passenger capacity and 16 percent more vehicle capacity. The company believes these larger vessels are “critical” to maintaining service between Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands and the Lower Mainland as the province’s population grows, Groot said.

In the meantime, he urged customers not to take out their frustration on employees who have no control over who boards and waits for upcoming sailings.

“Obviously those customers didn’t have all the information available to them, it’s obviously a little bit different situation where we’ve seen a greater number of people come forward with assured load cards,” Groot said . “But our employees are doing their best.”