Marine Atlantic ferry still trapped in ice

Marine Atlantic ferries are at a standstill this morning, with theBlue Putteesstuck in ice off Cape Breton with about 40 people on board, whilethe company's other vessels remain in port.

The Puttees hasbeen stucksince Wednesday afternoon. It was on its way to North Sydney when it became stuck in thick ice.

The CanadianCoast Guard has been trying to free the ferry, but even they ran into trouble, according to Darrell Mercer with Marine Atlantic.

"The icebreaker Louis St. Laurentwas trying to free that vessel yesterday, but unfortunately the weather conditions deteriorated and they had to suspend operationsbecause of visibility," Mercer says.

"So they're going to try again this morning to free the vessel. That could take a period of time."

"In the meantime we have the Highlanders and the Atlantic Vision at the dock in North Sydney. They've loaded traffic, but are still waiting for weather conditions to improve in the Cabot Strait so right now it's not a good situation."

Weather not helping

The weather isn't cooperating, however, and conditions worsened overnight as thewind bore down, Mercer says.

"It's a double whammy," he says. "We're seeing the ice conditions worsen and we're also seeing the weather conditions worsen so from that perspective it's certainly having an impact on our services."

Passengers on the Blue Puttees are receiving free meals while they wait to be freed.

Mercer is hopeful that the winds will change direction and take some pressure off the ice.That should give the ice breaker enough slack to go and help free the Blue Puttees.

Marine Atlantic doesn't know when the ship will be freed from the ice, and theCoast Guard said this is some of the worse ice conditions they've seen in thirty years.

When ferry service resumes the ships will be operating on a load-and-go basis.