Fanafjord ferry could have been bought for half the price, says marine expert

If the federal government had moved more quickly, it could have had the Fanafjord ferry in service now between Nova Scotia and P.E.I. after buying it at half the price, says the owner of a marine design firm in eastern P.E.I.

In 2016, MV Holiday Island, one of two ferries Northumberland Ferries was operating on the Nova Scotia-P.E.I. route at the time, spent the entire summer in drydock. 

Russell Compton, the owner of NorCan Marine in Montague, told Island Morning host Laura Chapin he was concerned about the age of the ferries on the service. The Holiday Island was launched in 1970, and MV Confederation in 1993.

Compton took it on himself to look for possible replacements for the ferries. He travelled to Norway, where he has friends in the industry, and looked at three ships.

One of those boats was the Fanafjord, which the federal government purchased last year as a replacement ferry for $38 million, but is now estimated to have a price tag of  $43.5 million, according to Transport Canada officials. 

Compton said the Fanafjord was available in 2016 for only $19 million. He let the government know about that availability when he returned, at a meeting with Cardigan MP Lawrence MacAulay, the federal Department of Transport, Northumberland Ferries, and then P.E.I. premier Wade MacLauchlan.

He said he addressed MacAulay directly at the meeting, saying: "Lawrence, you should buy three of these and get them over here because these ferries are old that are here.

I said there's nine of these boats for sale in Norway. They're six years old, they're clean, green, faster, and they fit into our docks. And nothing happened.— Russell Compton

"I said there's nine of these boats for sale in Norway. They're six years old, they're clean, green, faster, and they fit into our docks. And nothing happened."

In an emailed statement, MacAulay's office said it could not comment on any sort of price quotes that Compton may or may not have received, as a private citizen and not a representative of the Government of Canada, during a trip to Norway eight years ago.

The Holiday Island suffered an engine fire during a crossing in 2022 and had to be scrapped. The Fanafjord is a temporary replacement ferry for that vessel. It was purchased last year, but required work, and is currently in Norway undergoing sea trials. 

Northumberland Ferries has had no ferries available for its service since Sept. 23, when the replacement vessel Saaremaa, on loan from Quebec, had engine issues.  A technical problem with Confederation in Sept. 15 caused it to crash into the wharf and it is still being repaired. 

Questions about refit

At  the time it was bought, the Fanafjord operated on liquefied natural gas, and Transport Canada made the decision to convert it to diesel-electric.

There have been questions about that decision. While P.E.I. does not currently have a supply of LNG, some have suggested it could have been transported and have noted that LNG is a greener fuel than diesel.

The decision was Transport Canada's, but Northumberland Ferries CEO Mark Wilson said his company was consulted, and there were issues with Fanafjord's LNG engines that went beyond supply of fuel.

"It was on what I would consider to be first-generation LNG technology," Wilson said of the ship, which was launched in 2007. "We were concerned, number one, that that current technology wouldn't meet Canadian standards so that vessel could not be flagged to come into Canada."

He also said it would not have met Northumberland Ferries' own safety standards, which "advanced significantly." 

Wilson noted that ferries in Canada that are operating on LNG have dual fuel systems, and can operate on diesel, if LNG is not available. Fanafjord would have been stuck in the dock if there was an interruption in the LNG fuel supply.

Fanafjord's retrofit is complete, but it will not enter service in Canada until the 2025 ferry season, at the earliest.

'A reliable ship'

A permanent replacement for Holiday Island was announced in the 2019 federal budget.

The federal government signed a contract with Davie Shipyard in Quebec for that vessel in November that same year, and the new vessel was expected to be delivered in 60 months later.

If that had happened, MV Holiday Island II would be here next month. But the design for the ferry is only just being completed. Delivery is now expected in 2029 or 2030.

In the meantime, Wilson said the Fanafjord will fill in well.

"I think that the Fanafjord is going to be well liked. It's going to be a reliable ship," he said.

After some trouble-filled years, Wilson said he is looking forward to earning back the trust of the public next season.