That new ferry is too small to handle sea ice, tiny town says

The town of South East Bight on Placentia Bay's west coast is finding the provincial government's new ferry contracts a little bit tough to chew on.

The province said in a news release the new contracts for the island's south coast will save government roughly $3 million a year.

"There's a lot of concern here in the community, and we had quite a heated meeting the day after the media release, which is when we all found out, the same way as everybody else," said Tracey Brewer, chairperson of the local service district of South East Bight.

Brewer said some of theconcerns are inthe size of the new ferry, whichwill be smaller than the Norcon Oceanus, the vesselcurrently servingthe area, which carriesup to 36 passengers. She also fears the new vessel will nothave the same freightcapacity to serve a community where everything is delivered by sea.

The biggest concern is in the safety of the ship itself, a "river boat," according to Brewer. The Marine Coaster III is tapped to pick up the ferry service when the Norcon Oceanus's contract expires.

"She lies really low in the water. She doesn't have much freeboard. What that means, basically, is you wouldn't be able to carry the same amount of weight on her," Brewer said.

"The Oceanushas a huge bow and can really handle higher winds and more extreme conditions."

Brewer said the Norcon Oceanus had trouble breaking through sea ice recently, and only after several hours and attempts to break through did the vessel carve a path through the sheet and regain the ability to make its commute.

"Should the Marine Coaster come here and we get ice conditions like we are this year, we're just going to lose runs. For weeks. Not days. I'm talking weeks," she said.

"It's like the highway. It's like our lifeline. So if we don't have it we don't get out, we don't get in. Services don't get out, services don't get in."

The town of roughly 70 people has drawn up a petition to present to government.

New vessel is 'quite capable'

In response to Brewer's concerns, Transportation and Works Minister Steve Crocker said the new ferry meets all the specifications needed to service Sought East Bight and Petit Forte, and the ship is even undergoing modifications to meet one of the town's concerns by having a new bow installed.

"These vessels are Transport Canada-inspected and I can assure you Transport Canada is very rigid in their specifications forpassenger ferries," Crocker told CBC Radio's St. John's Morning Show.

Crocker said safety comes first but value for taxpayers' money is also important.

On average, according to Crocker, the South East Bight ferry run has an average of only five passengers per trip, and ice conditions are not a new issue, said Crocker.

"We're quite familiar with dealing with ice conditions, and I guess to answer the questions about suitability this is the same tender, the same specifications that would have been used in the previous tenders as well, with the only exception is we've added the requirement for accessibility," he said.

"The passenger capacity is 20 and the capacity of this vessel meets the specifications as the previous vessel. This vessel is quite capable of doing thisservice."

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