'Somebody dropped the ball': Shipper says ferry cancellation impacts could have been avoided

People who work in P.E.I.'s trucking and shipping industry say they're facing higher costs because ferry service between the Island and Nova Scotia has been cancelled until at least July 10.

"It's adding $500 to $600 to $700 on every load that we ship to Nova Scotia," said Mary VandenBroek Grant, who owns and manages Cardigan Feed Services, an agricultural retail outlet that ships feed, pet food, fertilizer and grain.

In the warmer months when the ferry does run, the company's truck drivers can work shorter days by taking the ferry to Nova Scotia instead of the long route through New Brunswick as they do during the winter. That's not possible now. 

"If you book on the ferry, you can leave at 7 [a.m. AT] and make a round trip and come home and be home at a half-decent time," VandenBroek Grant said. "But in the winter ... the drivers are usually gone at 5 a.m. — and most of them don't get back until 11."

MV Confederation, which serves the route between Caribou, N.S., and Wood Islands, P.E.I., began facing engine problems on Friday.

Part needs to be built from scratch

A "mechanical flexible coupling in the propulsion drivetrain" failed, Northumberland Ferries senior vice-president Mark Wilson said in a statement Monday. The part needed to repair the Confederation would have to be built from scratch, he said.

That's estimated to take up to four weeks. 

Scott Annear, owner and operator of Morley Annear Ltd. in Montague, said he relies more on the ferry route later in the summer, and during the fall.

At this time of year, his company mostly ships gravel from Nova Scotia to P.E.I. and potatoes from the Island to the Halifax port. 

"When the ferry was operating properly, it was a great way to get loads done — and they could get a couple loads a day in," he said. "But now they're gone from maybe a couple of loads a day to no loads a day."

We understand mechanical issues happen. But when you're down to one aging vessel, there needs to be a better Plan B.— Chris McKee, Atlantic Provinces Trucking Association executive director

The problems affect the rest of the sector too, said Chris McKee, executive director with the Atlantic Provinces Trucking Association.

"The cost is inevitably and unfortunately going to be passed on to the end users and the consumers by the shippers," he said.

"It seems over the last number of years, we've faced a declining service with Northumberland Ferries ... We understand mechanical issues happen. But when you're down to one aging vessel, there needs to be a better Plan B."

'Nothing's been done' 

Annear and VandenBroek Grant said they, like many in the shipping industry, are feeling frustrated. 

They said they don't like how Northumberland Ferries and the federal government have responded to improving ferry service after the MV Holiday Island fire took that vessel permanently out of commission last summer.

MV Saaremaa 1, which is being leased to operate along with MV Confederation during the peak summer season, is in drydock in Quebec. It's scheduled to arrive in early July.

"A full year later and nothing's been done," Annear said. "They weren't prepared for this and now we have no ferry until the Quebec boat comes back down.

"I think somebody dropped the ball on this, and it's time that somebody's accountable."

The federal government owns MV Confederation, which is leased to Northumberland Ferries. It also owned and leased the Holiday Island. 

VandenBroek Grant said she doesn't understand why they didn't have a backup plan in place. 

"My mother was the wisest woman in the world and she always said: 'A wise person always looks way out in the future to plan,'" she said.

"I can't quite understand how the federal government didn't get their priorities straight in having a long-term plan for our ferries."