CHARLOTTETOWN — Tourism officials say the sporadic ferry service this year between Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia is hurting local businesses.
Corryn Clemence, chief executive of the Tourism Industry Association of Prince Edward Island, said businesses in the eastern part of the province missed the first major tourist influx on Canada Day weekend because the one ferry across the Northumberland Strait was out of service.
This weekend will see visitors arriving for the Cavendish Festival's outdoor concerts, and there is still no ferry service. The company that operates the service between Caribou, N.S., and Wood Islands, P.E.I., said the MV Confederation will not sail until at least next week, leaving the Confederation Bridge as the Island's only link to the mainland.
"A lot of our visitors from away would use the ferry service as a means of arrival and departure to the Island," Clemence said.
"So to have that down again this year puts extra pressure on the bridge to be able to move that traffic through quickly and efficiently. There's a lot of challenges and intricacies that go with it." She said her association represents hotels, retailers, event organizers and other tourism operators.
Northumberland Ferries said the MV Confederation was removed from service because of a mechanical problem and that the required parts are due to arrive Saturday.
P.E.I. Tourism Minister Cory Deagle raised concerns about the reduced ferry operations in a June 20 letter to federal Transport Minister Omar Alghabra and federal Tourism Minister Randy Boissonnault.
"As you can appreciate, the ferry service plays an important role in transporting tourists to and from Prince Edward Island, and with the current interruption, it is anticipated that a number of tourism operators in the province and certainly in the eastern region will be severely impacted," Deagle said.
Alghabra's and Boissonnault's offices did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Clemence said the ferry usually runs from early spring until late fall, but service has been inconsistent this year. Last July, a fire aboard the MV Holiday Island put that ferry permanently out of service at the height of the tourist season.
"We've been operating with one ferry," Clemence said. "As we ramped up kind of for that summer season, which is our busy time of year … now having no ferry service has been really challenging for a lot of our operators on the eastern end (of the Island)."
In a news release Thursday, Northumberland Ferries said a second vessel, MV Saaremaa 1, is scheduled to be in service by the middle of this month.
Clemence said the financial hit to businesses from the ferry disruption will be calculated later in the year. The last big tourism year was 2019, she said.
That tourism season ended with destruction from post-tropical storm Dorian, and then the COVID-19 pandemic hit the next year. Things were returning to normal when post-tropical storm Fiona caused major damage on the Island last September.
"Now this year, it's the ferries," Clemence said. "It just seems to be a lot of speed bumps along the way for our operators."
For a lot of people who take the ferry, she said it is not just a means of transport.
"They really enjoy the experience of taking the ferry over to the Island. It is a very important part of our tourism matrix here on Prince Edward Island," she said.
"And it is not only a great service, but it is a great experience too. So we're really, really hopeful that they can get back on track and have a consistent schedule."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 7, 2023.
The Canadian Press
