Negotiations for purchase of new N.S.-P.E.I. ferry underway

With a deadline for proposals from other ship suppliers passed, Transport Canada is negotiating for the purchase of MV Fanafjord to replace MV Holiday Island, which caught fire and burned in the Northumberland Strait in the summer of 2022.

The federal government announced its intention to buy Fanafjord in August to continue two-vessel service on the N.S.-P.E.I. ferry route, but had to wait 15 days for other proposals before working with Fanafjord's owners to finalize a deal.

Cardigan MP Lawrence MacAulay is confident a deal will be struck. What will then remain is converting the fuel system on the boat from liquified natural gas to diesel-electric.

"My job is to make sure that's done as quickly as possible. I don't want to hear next February it's delayed for any period of time. We need it there for the opening of the next season," said MacAulay.

"From now on we'll own two vessels to make sure the long-term stability of the Wood Islands-Caribou ferry service remains intact. So the tourism industry, the trucking industry, can count on the service all the time."

The LNG fuel system on the boat is an older technology, and MacAulay said the diesel-electric system will be more environmentally friendly. The cost of the ferry has not yet been released, but MacAulay said that would likely be announced this week.

Weeks without service

The stability of the ferry service across the Northumberland Strait was a big issue this summer.

The Holiday Island was 52 years old when it caught fire and already scheduled for replacement. The 2019 federal budget announced a new ferry would be ready in 2027. That has since been put off to 2028.

In the meantime, the government leased MV Saaremaa from Quebec as a second ferry for the route. Saaremaa was in dry dock early this summer and the remaining ferry, MV Confederation, itself 30 years old and said by some to be ready for replacement, experienced multiple breakdowns leaving no ferries crossing the Northumberland Strait for weeks.

Businesses in eastern P.E.I., reliant on the ferry for a flow of customers, have had mixed reaction to the news of the Fanafjord, which was originally launched in 2007.

The Eastern P.E.I. Chamber of Commerce says it recommended the purchase of Fanafjord six years ago.