Detroit-Windsor Truck Ferry in jeopardy of closing, company says
President seeking government funding to keep ferry running, says there's public value
The Detroit-Windsor Truck Ferry (DWTF) is in financial trouble and the company's president says help from government is needed to keep the service running.
Gregg Ward, president of the DWTF, said the truck ferry is seeking about $160,000 US a month to keep operating.
He wants to see that cost shared equally between the Canadian side and Michigan, saying he believes it is a service that has significant public value.
"If they would like it to stay open, I will need support to do that," Ward said in an interview Thursday evening.
The truck ferry is the only legal way to move hazardous materials across the border in Windsor, Ont., and it also allows for overweight or large dimension trucks to get across.
Ward is hoping to receive funding to at least keep the service running until the Gordie Howe International Bridge — which will allow hazardous materials to cross — is open in 2025.
The ferry is also playing a role in the construction of that bridge, since it is used to transport oversize loads.
Ward said his agreement with the charter company for the equipment to run the ferry expires Friday, and if the service is to continue, DWTF needs to make a commitment.
"If I don't have support I'm not going to sign," he said.
The ferry has been in operation since 1990. Ward says what has changed is that he is getting less business from hazardous material trucks.
Ward warns that losing the ferry option will mean detours for the nearly 14,000 trucks carrying hazardous material across the border yearly, adding time to routes and heightening the risk of accidents.
If the truck ferry closed, Ward says it would also affect the Stellantis-LG Energy Solution EV battery plant being built in Windsor.
Any trucks carrying hazardous material related to the plant would have to go all the way to the Blue Water Bridge in Sarnia, Ont., to get to automakers in Detroit.
"The extra mileage and resulting emissions are counter intuitive to the green energy investment goals of the plant," Ward said in an email. "And certainly the communities on the way to the Blue Water Bridge won't appreciate the increase in hazmat traffic."
MP advocating for ferry to stay open
In a letter dated March 22, 2023, Windsor West NDP MP Brian Masse told Infrastructure and Communities Minister Dominic LeBlanc and Minister of Transport Omar Alghabra that the truck ferry is integral to cross-border trade.
He pointed to the Stellantis-LG EV battery plant as one project whose contractors use the ferry to move large components of construction across the border.
He also used the border blockades of early 2022 as an example of the need for a redundancy.
"I am asking that you both intervene to find a solution to maintaining [the Detroit-Windsor Truck Ferry] until at least the new Gordie Howe Bridge is opened and an examination to keep it operational for security reasons past that point."
In a statement, a spokesperson for Transport Canada says the ministry is reviewing the letter from Masse "and will respond in due course."