New model for Maritime ferry service some years off

Ottawa has renewed contracts for three ferry services in the Maritimes, signalling that a new model for the ferries announced in the spring is years away from being implemented.

Transport Canada has decided to renew its agreements with the current operators for two years. That covers:

• Bay Ferries, operating between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
• Northumberland Ferries, operating between P.E.I. and Nova Scotia.
• CTMA, operating between  Îles-de-la-Madeleine and P.E.I.

The status quo is being maintained until 2020 to ensure more certainty during the transition to a new business model, Marc Roy, spokesman for federal Transport Minister Marc Garneau, told Radio-Canada.

Aging ferries

In the last federal budget, the federal government committed to $278 million for the ferry services over five years.

A new agreement with a private operator would bring operator-owned ferries to the routes. Currently the federal government owns the ferries and the operators cover the cost of maintenance and operation.

Some of the current ferries are reaching the end of their useful lives. They were all built in the previous century.

• MV Holiday Island: 1971.
• MV Madeleine: 1981.
• MV Confederation: 1992.
• MV Fundy Rose: 2000.

The new business model would see three of the four ferries replaced with vessels no more than 10 years old within three years of being implemented.

Roy said while the bidding process has been delayed, the plan remains the same.

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