‘Crucial’ Maritime cargo ferry thrown a lifeline

DIGBY, N.S. — Ottawa and the province of Nova Scotia will hand over a combined $6 million to keep the vital Bay of Fundy cargo ferry service afloat.

Nova Scotia Premier Rodney MacDonald announced a $2 million lifeline to Bay Ferries Ltd. in order to keep the Digby-Saint John cargo service operating, reports the Halifax Chronicle Herald. That’s on top of the $4 million Ottawa says it will kick-in. New Brunswick is also expected to contribute.

The government money is a short-term solution to keep the ferry sailing while a long-term solution is developed, MacDonald added.

In July, Bay Ferries announced skyrocketing fuel costs, a drop in tourism and forestry exports, were forcing the company to anchor its service permanently. The Princess of Acadia vessel was scheduled to make its last voyage on Oct. 31.

Locals, politicians and many truckers who rely on the service to deliver fresh seafood and lumber to U.S. East Coast markets insist the ferry is as important as any highway, and for months have been urging Ottawa and the provinces to save it.

Yarmouth-based Terry LeBlanc of Eastside Fisheries says that without the ferry it would be a challenge for fleets in the region to deliver fresh products like lobster. Alternative roads would increase costs and double delivery time, he said.

Ray Franzen, who owns a Digby County trucking company that ships seafood to the U.S, says his trucks use the ferry as many as 800 times a year. Being forced to drive around the Bay of Fundy would have added thousands of extra dollars to his fleet costs.

Shippers and truckers have insisted the ferry should be a service guaranteed service, like Marine Atlantic (the service’s former operator), because it is part of the national transportation system.

According to the newspaper, Bay Ferries president Mark MacDonald wouldn’t confirm that the ferry would keep running for two years.

A consultant’s report commissioned by the province estimated the economic impact of losing the ferry at $20 million.

Bay Ferries and sister company Northumberland Ferries Ltd. also operate the high-speed Cat ferry between Yarmouth and two Maine ports, Portland and Bar Harbor; conventional service between Caribou, Pictou County, and Wood Islands, P.E.I.

— from the Halifax Chronicle Herald