NS-PEI ferry resumes service after being out of service for 2 weeks

The ferry between PEI and Nova Scotia has resumed weeks earlier than expected.

The first departure was Saturday at 7am from Wood Islands, PEI

Service ceased on June 17 after MV Confederation encountered a mechanical problem requiring a new part.

It was believed that the ship would not be ready to resume service until mid-July, as the part was not in stock anywhere in the world and had to be built from scratch. The replacement is manufactured in Germany and shipped to Canada.

Shortly after the disruption was announced, a Northumberland Ferries official told CBC that the part resembled the vanilla cream layer in an Oreo cookie, with the ship’s main engine representing one chocolate wafer and the equipment driving the propellers on the other side of the cookie.

In a statement issued Friday, Northumberland Ferries said it “has made every effort to expedite production and delivery of the new part and has been able to expedite delivery with strong co-operation from the supplier and all support agencies.”

Interruption of service ‘shuts down traffic’, companies say

As of Friday, MV Confederation was out of service for nearly two weeks, leaving no vehicle or passenger ferry service between the eastern PEI and the mainland at the start of the busy summer tourism season.

That had many local entrepreneurs who rely on the traffic of tourists who take the ferry concerned about the possible consequences of a service disruption that can take weeks.

“Tourists love the island experience when taking the boat to or from the island,” said Gloria Shaw, manager of the Wood Islands Lighthouse Museum.

“It was a big disappointment for a lot of people when it stopped – and it really stopped traffic in this area.”

Shaw said Canada Day is normally a quiet day at the museum due to events in Charlottetown and elsewhere on the island, but that Saturday was busier than she expected.

“We’re just really happy to see the ferry crossing today. It was a sight to behold,” she said.

A disruption left travelers with few options

Not only tourists, but also islanders, truckers and other business travelers had only two options: take the Confederation Bridge connecting Borden-Carleton, PEI, to New Brunswick, or fly.

Alex Larkin, who is from New Glasgow, said he discovered the ferry resumed service around midnight. He said it didn’t take him long to decide to buy a ticket.

“Just live in Nova Scotia, the only other option is [to] go through New Brunswick, drive the two hours, take the bridge, then we normally go to Charlottetown or Cavendish and that’s usually an hour from the bridge itself – so it saves a lot of time,” he said.

The ferry’s failure shed light on the uncertainty of having only one working vessel dedicated to the service, after MV Holiday Island was sent to a scrap yard in July 2022 following an onboard fire.

Northumberland Ferries was able to find and lease a suitable car ferry from the Quebec Ferry Company later in 2022, but company officials knew it could be withdrawn at any time if it was necessary to get a ship on a St. Lawrence River- path to replace.

That replacement vessel, MV Saaremaa I, will return to the PEI-Nova Scotia route in mid-July after a stay in dry dock.

The federal government is the legal owner of Northumberland Ferries boats.

It has budgeted for a replacement ferry for MV Holiday Island, but that vessel is still in the design phase and will not be ready until 2028 at the earliest.