N.S.-P.E.I. service resumes Monday afternoon

Ferry service between P.E.I. and Nova Scotia resumed Monday afternoon after being cancelled yet again this morning.

MV Confederation departed Wood Islands for Caribou at 3 p.m. AT. A second sailing out of P.E.I. took place at 6 p.m.

The 30-year-old ferry has been out of service — with the exception of a few crossings on the Canada Day weekend — since June 17. Northumberland Ferries had been hoping the Confederation would be back on the water by Saturday, but the weekend crossings were cancelled.

On Sunday, the company cancelled Monday morning's crossings, saying there would be a further announcement.

The problem in mid-June was caused by a broken part in the port engine main coupling. The Canada Day issue was with the starboard engine coupling.

'Challenging' for those affected

The situation is frustrating for some P.E.I. visitors who say they can no longer rely on the service when making their travel plans.

Ken Simpson had a booked trip for Monday afternoon. He said keeping track of the ferry schedule was difficult.

"It's been challenging, getting details, getting confirmation," he said. 

"I had heard from a lot of locals that they had heavy doubt it would be running. I listened to the radio, and finally got confirmation an hour ago that we'd be running."

Simpson said he would have had to drive about two hours to get to his destination in Nova Scotia.

"For us, being from Ontario, it's an experience being on the ferry. Coming across with the kids especially," he said.

"We're very excited to be going and avoiding that trip on the road."

Treena MacLeod is the owner of Treena's Takeout, a small business in Wood Islands that relies on traffic from the ferries. 

She said she was thrilled to learn the service was back on track.

"It was certainly a lot of ups and downs, but it's such a relief. The eastern end of the Island really needs this," she said.

"We definitely need the tourists."

'It was all hands on deck,' company says

Northumberland Ferries senior vice-president Mark Wilson said staff worked quickly to get the ferries back up on Monday.

"Since we were down last Sunday, we've been doing everything we can around the clock to try and recover and get back to service as quickly as we can," he said. "It was all hands on deck."

Wilson said the installation of the new part was completed around 10 p.m. Sunday night. He said the company did its best to keep customers up to date.

"It's a major inconvenience if our customers are bumping right up against cancellation after cancellation," he said. "We tried to give some advance notice as much as we could."

Saaremaa to enter service this week

The route across the Northumberland Strait is normally served by two ferries. The Confederation's sister ferry, MV Holiday Island, was reduced to scrap by a fire last summer.

MV Saaremaa 1, a temporary replacement for the Holiday Island, has been in drydock. It is expected to return to service this week.

The Northumberland Ferries said the Confederation will follow its four-trip operating schedule until the Saaremaa enters service.

A replacement for the Holiday Island was announced in the 2019 federal budget, but the new ferry isn't expected to be ready to sail until 2027.

While the service is operated by Northumberland Ferries, the ships themselves are owned by the federal government.

The company said it is doing an internal review to see if there's more it could do to avoid major disruptions like this in the future.