'It was a big decision': Clarenville shipyard has Gallipoli contract terminated

The Newfoundland and Labrador government has terminated a contract with a dockyard in Clarenville three months after an unusual mishap left a provincial ferry stalled on a marine railway cradle.

The decision has cast great uncertainty over the future of Burry's Shipyard, with Terra Nova MHAColin Holloway saying "this could result in a closure for them."

Gallipoli back in service in the fall

Transportation and Works Minister Steve Crocker confirmed Monday that a refit of theMV Gallipoliwill be completed at Newdock St. John's Dockyard Limited.

Crocker said the "big decision" was made on the recommendation of senior engineers in the department, along with an independent review of the options for getting the vessel back in service in the shortest possible timeframe.

Crocker said the department did not have confidence that the damaged marine railway would be re-certified, and "we didn't want to find ourselves in a situation three or four weeks from now where the vessel wasn't repaired and we weren't able to get the vessel back on drydock."

The Gallipoli is now being prepared for transfer to St. John's, where it is scheduled to go into drydock on June 1, and return to service sometime in the fall, said the minister.

Crocker said Burry's is co-operating with the move.

"It was a decision we took our time [with] to make sure that we were making the right decision."

Yard's future now in doubt

The decision is a blow to Burry's, which is a major employer in the Clarenville region with up to 150 personnel at peak periods.

Owner Glenn Burry could not be reached for comment, but Holloway said Burry and his team are "beyond surprised" at the decision to cancel the contract.

Holloway said Burry is out of the province, trying to secure new contracts for the yard.

"They feel another decision could have beenmade," said Holloway, who said he lobbied to have the Gallipoli contract completed at Burry's.

Holloway said the marine railway should be back in service in a week or two, and the yard was prepared to complete the refit over a period of nine to 12 weeks.

Stop-work order

But Crocker said there were too many unknowns and"the Feb. 12 incident was one that we weren't able to overcome."

'The Feb. 12 incident was one that we weren't able to overcome."- Steve Crocker

About half the refit was completed when the vessel was slowly being moved back into the water three months ago, but the vessel became stalled at the water's edge after the cradle carrying the vessel partially collapsed.

The cradle was rated for a haulout weight of 650 tonnes, while theGallipoliis rated at 611 grosstonnes.

• 'Judgment error' left MV Gallipoli off the rails at Clarenville shipyard

A stop-work order was immediately put in place, and aspecialized vessel was brought in to tow the Gallipoliback into the water.

The 47-metre Gallipoliwas built in 1986 and is assigned to the Ramea-Grey River-Burgeo ferry service on the south coast.

It came out ofservice Sept. 5 to begin a 90-day scheduled refit at Burry's, but the timeframe was extended to this spring after inspections discovered further steel deterioration in the ship.

The new in-service date is now expected sometime this fall.

Crocker said just under $3 million has been spent so far on the refit, with another $1.5 million budgetedthis year to complete the work.

Any costs connected to the cradle collapse will be covered by insurance, he said.

As for the the department's relationship with Burry's Shipyard, Crocker is not ruling out the awarding of future contracts to the Clarenvillecompany.

"Hopefully, they can get their slip back in shape as quickly as possible and I'm sure there is other opportunities out there," he said.

Meanwhile, a smaller vessel is serving theRamea-GreyRiver-Burgeorun, and there's growing frustration in the area.

"We're going to do everything we can possibly do to get the vessel back in as quickly as possible," said Crocker.