Fanafjord ferry could have been bought for half the price, says marine expert
CBC
If the federal government had moved more quickly it could have the Fanafjord ferry in service now between Nova Scotia and P.E.I. and bought it at half the price, says the owner of a marine design firm in eastern P.E.I.
In 2016, the MV Holiday Island, one of two ferries Northumberland Ferries was operating on 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 the 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 that in 2016 the Fanafjord was available for $19 million. He let the government know about that availability at a meeting when he returned 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.
"Lawrence, you should buy three of these and get them over here because these ferries are old that are here," said 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 statment 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.
When purchased, the Fanafjord operated on liquified 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 it is a greener fuel than diesel.
The decision was Transport Canada's, but Northumberland Ferries CEO Mark Wilson said his company was consulted, and that there were issues with Fanafjord's LNG engines that went beyond supply of fuel.
The amount of money it takes for people to earn a living wage has increased across the province, according to a new report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).
The new owner of Ontario steelmaker Stelco says his company "will not disappoint the people of Hamilton and Nanticoke," where the business's major facilities are based.
A Winnipegger is warning others about an intricate scam she says she almost fell for.
Fort William First Nation is opposing a planned redevelopment of the Ontario Power Generation's (OPG) 117 year old Kakabeka Falls Generating Station, which is located in their traditional territory.
A building that sits at the corner of Sussex Street and Brunswick Avenue has had many lives over the last century — being a church, a school and offices. Now it's set to become housing, at a time when the city sorely needs it.
A Waterloo, Ont., elementary school principal will be sentenced in the new year after pleading guilty to child sexual exploitation charges following a joint investigation that involved the London, Toronto and Waterloo police services.
Students at UPEI have let their student union know what they want from the province this fiscal year, and those priorities are reflected in a 2024-2025 advocacy document brought to the legislature on Wednesday.
Larger communities in the N.W.T. will soon see a boost in their territorial funding to maintain infrastructure and deliver services — like water and waste management — but the increase still falls short of what communities need.
The toxic drug crisis has taken more than 47,000 lives in Canada since 2016 and the synthetic opioid fentanyl has become a household name. But now, what's believed to be an even more potent class of synthetic drugs is showing up in drug busts across the country: nitazenes.
The Liberal government and the NDP have agreed to introduce a two-month GST vacation on certain items before the holiday season, Radio-Canada has learned.
Veterinarians are warning Londoners to make sure their dogs are vaccinated and keeping clean after a deadly virus outbreak was declared in London this week.