Northumberland Ferries CEO explains reasons behind frequent N.S.-P.E.I. ferry cancellations

In the past week, more than a dozen sailings of the MV Saaremaa have been cancelled.

Some of these cancellations have been to high winds, others due to mechanical problems with the vessel that runs between Caribou, N.S., and Wood Islands, P.E.I.

“We’ve had a bit of a run of it, to be completely candid, over the last couple of years,” said Northumberland Ferries general manager Jeff Joyce.

He said it’s not just the Saaremaa that’s caused those issues. Last summer, it was the 31-year-old MV Confederation, and in 2022, a fire on the MV Holiday Island.

“I speak to a lot of customers, some of them disappointed with things that have happened, I end up getting a lot of those calls,” Joyce said. “By and large, most understand that we’re doing our very best to address the issues.”

While people travelling by ferry are just looking to get to their destination, Joyce said running a ferry service has a lot of moving parts.

“A marine environment is a challenging one,” he said. “To keep a vessel running with all the regulations, the crew requirements, the weather restrictions, and then the age of the vessel and the manoeuvrability of the vessel in bad weather … it’s a complicated business.”

Saaremaa harder to handle in wind

Joyce said for weather-related cancellations, Northumberland Ferries tracks weather forecasts and tries to make early cancellation decisions to ensure people can build and adjust their travel plans.

The Saaremaa, which was originally built in Norway, is less suited to the choppy waters of the Northumberland Strait than the Confederation due to design reasons, Joyce said. The Saaremaa has a different haul shape under the water, and can be harder to manoeuvre, especially when there’s high winds.

The other thing relates to the Saaremaa’s engines. The vessel has two six-cylinder engines and two eight-cylinder ones.

“And we’ve had issues with both the smaller main engines this season,” said Joyce.

The current issue is with the engine cylinder liner for engine No. 3. It’s been temporarily fixed, but Joyce said service technicians will be in Atlantic Canada next week to make a permanent repair.

“The permanent repair involves the engine block itself, relining that and building up some material there, and then machining it down,” he said. “So it’s not a small piece, but it is expected to fully fix the problem once and for all.”

Joyce said that repair shouldn’t take the ship out of service.

Fanafjord far away

The Saaremaa was only ever meant to be a temporary solution. When the MV Holiday Island caught fire in 2022, the Saaremaa was brought in from Quebec.

Last year, Transport Canada announced that the permanent replacement for the vessel would be the MV Fanafjord.

Canada purchased the ship for $38.6 million, but it’s unclear when it will arrive. In March, the federal government said it would be here this summer, but marine traffic websites show it’s currently docked in Norway.

Transport Canada has yet to reply to a request for comment.

The summer ferry season will last until Oct. 16, at which time ferry service will go back down to four round-trips a day, instead of eight.

But Joyce said they will keeping the Saaremaa around until the end of October in case there are issues with the Confederation.

Joyce hopes customers won’t lose faith in the ferry service, and Northumberland Ferries is doing a lot to try to boost ridership, like having live music, a pet lounge and an ice cream shop.

But he knows that cancellations will impact how many people are taking it.

“If Islanders could rely on us 100 per cent of the time, we wouldn’t have this challenge, for sure,” he said. “What we’re really trying to do is build people’s trust back up in the choice they’re making.”