A union official says blown generators are plaguing ferry service to Wolfe Island near Kingston, Ont., as what's supposed to be an electric vessel continues to run on diesel while waiting for its charging infrastructure to be set up.

The problem came to a head this past weekend when mechanical issues again knocked the Wolfe Islander IV (WI4) out of service, stranding frustrated residents with no way to cross between the island and mainland for hours.

"What's happening is we're running it on its backup power source," explained Lee MacLaren, a ferry captain and president of OPSEU Local 428, which represents crew members.

"These generators are continually going down on us, and with the lack of spare parts and running it in a manner that it's not designed [for], we're putting a lot of stres

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