'Somebody dropped the ball': Shipper says ferry cancellation impacts could have been avoided

People who work in P.E.I.'s trucking and shipping industry say they're facing higher costs with ferry service between the Island and Nova Scotia cancelled until at least mid-July.

"It's adding $500 to $600 to $700 on every load that we ship to Nova Scotia," said Mary VandenBroek Grant, who owns and manages Cardigan Feed Services, an agricultural retail outlet that ships feed, pet food, fertilizer and grain.

In the warmer months when the ferry does run, the company's truck drivers can work shorter days by taking the ferry to Nova Scotia instead of taking the long route through New Brunswick as they do during the winter. That's not possible now. 

"If you book on the ferry, you can leave at 7 [a.m. AT] and make a round trip and come home and be home at a half-decent time," VandenBroek Grant said. "But in the winter ... the drivers are usually gone at 5 a.m. — and most of them don't get back until 11."

MV Confederation, which serves the route between Caribou, N.S., and Wood Islands, P.E.I., began facing engine problems on Friday.

A "mechanical flexible coupling in the propulsion drivetrain" failed, Northumberland Ferries senior vice-president Mark Wilson said in a statement Monday. The part needed to repair the Confederation would have to be built from scratch, he said.

That's estimated to take up to four weeks. 

Scott Annear, owner and operator of Morley Annear Ltd. in Montague, said he relies more on the ferry route later in the summer, and during the fall.

At this time of year, his company mostly ships gravel from Nova Scotia to P.E.I. and potatoes from the Island to the Halifax port. 

"When the ferry was operating properly, it was a great way to get loads done — and they could get a couple loads a day in," he said. "But now they're gone from maybe a couple of loads a day to no loads a day."

The problems affect the rest of the sector, said Chris McKee, executive director with the Atlantic Provinces Trucking Association.

"The cost is inevitably and unfortunately going to be passed on to the end users and the consumers by the shippers," he said.

"It seems over the last number of years, we've faced a declining service with Northumberland Ferries ... We understand mechanical issues happen. But when you're down to one aging vessel, there needs to be a better Plan B."

Annear and VandenBroek Grant said they, like many in the shipping industry, are feeling frustrated.