King urges PM to intervene to help speed up ferry's return to service

P.E.I. Premier Dennis King has sent a letter appealing to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to "make all possible efforts" to ensure ferry service between Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia resumes as soon as possible.

MV Confederation broke down last weekend, and needs a new part that has to be manufactured in Europe. The Quebec ferry that is due to supplement the Northumberland Strait run during peak tourism season, MV Saaremaa 1, is in drydock and not expected to be ready for service until early July.

That leaves no ferry to transport passengers, bikes, cars, trucks and campers between Caribou, N.S. and Wood Islands, P.E.I. 

"It is crucial, particularly for businesses in Eastern Prince Edward Island that rely on summer traffic from the ferry to sustain their operations, that the Northumberland Ferry service be re-established as quickly as possible," King wrote in a letter to Trudeau dated Wednesday.

"Further, I am seeking an update on the replacement of the MV Holiday Island. The fire last summer on the MV Holiday Island, followed by the MV Confederation being removed from service for an extended period this summer, highlights the need for two ferries to be in place for the crossing to provide a level of security and redundancy," King wrote.

Capacity worries

The service provided by Northumberland Ferries Ltd., leasing boats owned by Transport Canada, has been plagued with bad fortune over the last year.

MV Holiday Island caught fire while approaching the P.E.I. dock last July with a full load of passengers and vehicles. It was damaged beyond repair and is now being taken apart for scrap metal.

Holiday Island, built in 1970, was the older of the two ferries on the run, but Confederation turns 30 this year. A replacement for the broken part that shut down power to its propellors on June 17 will have to be specially manufactured, so it could be mid-July before the repair is completed.

That means the Saaremaa, leased from Société des traversiers du Québec, could be on its own for a couple of weeks after it gets out of drydock in early July.

The premier is worried that the Quebec ship may not have the necessary capacity for peak summer traffic during those solo weeks.

"We have heard concern from stakeholders regarding the capacity of the Saaremaa, including that it may not be capable of accommodating the same level of non-passenger vehicle traffic, such as transport trucks and recreational vehicles, as the MV Confederation," King wrote.

'A desperate unfortunate situation'

The Holiday Island was already scheduled for replacement when fire struck last summer. The 2019 federal budget had committed to continuing the P.E.I.-Nova Scotia service with two vessels as it announced a custom-built ferry to replace Holiday Island.

That replacement is still years off, said Lawrence MacAulay, the MP for Cardigan. Preliminary designs are just being completed, and the boat is not expected to launch until 2027.

"It's a desperate unfortunate situation," said MacAulay.

"There's lots of blame to go around if you want to blame anybody or everybody, but it's something that we have to deal with. It indicates very clearly how important a two-vessel service is for the Wood Islands-Caribou service."

Tourism P.E.I. says it is doing what it can to tweak its marketing campaign to focus a little more on Eastern P.E.I. during the ferry shutdown.

That includes boosting its social media marketing efforts, as well as encouraging Islanders to shop, eat and stay in that part of the Island.