Refit for MV Fundy Rose to take ferry out of service until early December

The MV Fundy Rose ferry, which takes passengers betweenDigby, N.S., and Saint John every day, will be out of service for a month and a half starting next week.

The ferry will not be running on Oct. 16 and will go to a shipyard in Quebec before returning to service on Dec. 3.

Jim Kerr, the general manager for Bay Ferries, said every two years, the ship goes into drydock for refitting.

"It's lifted out of the water, and that way we can inspect the entire hull," he said.

"Two years in the water, there's a lot of growth that'll go on to the hull, which eventually starts to slow down the ship a bit. So that'll get scraped, the hull will get inspected, get painted as well."

Kerr said the shafts and propeller blades will undergo work during that time, and some of the passenger amenities on board will get a deep cleaning.

He said it will go to Verreault Shipyard in Les Mchins, Que., and the final run before going in for service will be at 8 a.m. on Oct. 15.

In terms of timing, Kerry said Bay Ferries had to take the shipyard's availability into account, while also factoring in when commercial traffic is slower.

Kerr said around 33 crew members will go to Quebec with the ship and live aboard during the refit. After two weeks, that shift will be bussed back and the new shift will be bussed there.

He said he thinks customers will understand that the ship needs to go out of service for refit.

"We run it up until Thanksgiving so we can cover that major holiday, and then we're back in service before we start getting into the Christmas season," said Kerr.

"It's a low traffic time of year, and so there's no ideal time to take a ship out of service for that long, but I think it's not a bad time to do it."