Grand Manan Ferry heads to dry dock

The Grand Manan V ferry is heading todry dock after running aground Wednesday in Blacks Harbour, leaving Grand Manan without ferry service for at least part of Thursday.

Coastal Transport, the ferry's operator, is pressing the much smaller backup ship, the MV Grand Manan, into service.

But the replacement ferry is capable of carrying only a fraction of the transport truck traffic that makes the trip between Grand Manan and Blacks Harbour.

Divers and inspectors from Transport Canada and Lloyds Register spent much of Wednesday going over the Grand Manan V inch by inch looking for damage after the vessel drove off a rock ledge near the Blacks Harbour wharf.

Crystal Russell said she was in the washroom when the vessel suddenly listed to the starboard side.

"When I came out of the stall I was walking up hill to the sink and I thought, 'Something's wrong here. Then just wang! Really hard, hit real hard," Russell said.

James Spicer is a crew member on the Atlantic Bay a 24-metre salmon boat that was pressed into service to rescue passengers.

Spicer said the back door of the ferry dropped open onto the side of the Atlantic Bay and passengers started leaving the ferry.

A second vessel helped with the rescue and other passengers were also removed from the ferry on lifeboats.

There were no injuries among the 100 passengers. The ship's crew remained on board.

Grand Manan businesses scrambling

People working in the fishing industry on Grand Manan are scrambling Thursday with the sudden loss of the ferry service.

Seafood wholesalers are now trying to figure out how to get fresh product like lobster and salmon to market.

Toby McLaughlin, who works for Foggy Cove Ventures, said he's already losing business because of the loss of the ferry service.

"Some of the clients are pretty upset because stuff they had planned on having today, they don't have," McLaughlin said.

"This hurts business for us because they'll go and find product somewhere else and it leaves us out in the lurch."