MV Veteran ferry out of commission for day due to thruster issue

The brand-new, $50-million ferry for the Fogo Island-Change Islands run was out of commission for most of Wednesday, but after being repaired by technicians was set to sail again in the evening.

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According to the province's transportation and works department, the MV Veteran washaving a mechanical issue with one of its bow thrusters.

The $50-million ferry was put intoservice Dec. 20, replacing the MV Captain Earl W. Winsor, but had to be taken out againTuesday evening.

After the thruster broke, certified warranty technicians had to be brought in from St. John's to inspect and do the necessary repairs.

Minister of Transportation and Works Al Hawkins said he understands the bad timing of the ferry breaking down over the Christmas holidays, and how impatient those waiting for the ferry must be.

"It's been a very challenging week.We fully understand how frustrated people are," he said on CBC's On the Go on Wednesday.

Hawkins said the boat is under a one-year warranty, so the proper technicians had to come in before work could begin on repairs. He said that process was completed throughout the afternoon, and the Veteran was cleared to sail again at 5 p.m. Wednesday.

Day of headaches

The MV Norcon Galateawasin the area and took over the Fogo Island-Change Islands ferry service on Wednesday morning.

However,Maureen Lynch,with the ferry userscommittee on Fogo Island, said people were"not very impressed."

"You can only imagine, people here who came home for Christmas and with flights out and that, they've cancelled their flights and tried to re-book their flights and whatever," she told CBC's Central Morning Show.

"And not only that, but they're sending in the Norcon Galatea and she can't even take any tractor-trailers, so we've got freight supplies coming in to the island and no way of getting them in."

Lynch said the MV Veteran wasn't running on its regular schedule since the weekend due to high winds in the area, so people were still lined up waiting for it to get back into service when the province announced it was going to be out for repairs.

"People are really upset because our biggest thing here is the lack of communication because nobody was told anything about this until late (Tuesday)evening," she said.

Lynch said the province should have kept the MV Winsor tied up nearby for at least the first few weeks that the MV Veteran was on duty, just in case something like this happened.

Communication with public

Hawkins said while the ordeal of those waiting for the ferry is frustrating, his department did the best it could to keep them informed as to what was going on.

"Communication is important to us, and one of the things I've said to our department is that we have to be proactive when it comes to communication," he said.

"We were in constant contact. We kept everybody up to date as to what was happening"

Hawkins also said taxpayers in the province shouldn't feel like the M.V. Veteran was a poorly built ship, and that these kinds of mechanical setbacks are going to happen as well as weather-related issues.

"We want to provide the bestservice we can under the conditions that we're dealing with on a daily basis," he said.

"Hopefully people will be able to get on and off the island without too many difficulties."