Storm-stayed in Cape Breton
Transport drivers understand cancellation of ferry crossings to Newfoundland
Romeo Allain knows all too well what it’s like to wait for days at a time for Marine Atlantic ferry crossings to resume.
The transport truck driver, who travels between Moncton, N.B., and Newfoundland once a week, has been held up at Marine Atlantic terminals four times in the past five weeks.
Two weeks ago, Allain was forced to wait 78 hours at the Port aux Basques, N.L., terminal because of cancellations to ferry service between Newfoundland and Nova Scotia.
Meanwhile, last week, the Moncton native waited more than 58 hours to cross the Cabot Strait, again due to weather-related cancellations.
“Sometimes it can be frustrating, but there’s not much you can do about it — I rather be on land than on the water when the weather’s bad,” said Allain. “I never get excited over it — there’s nothing you can do other than wait – we’re used to it.”
Allain, who’s been a truck driver for 23 years, was among 60 commercial transport drivers at the North Sydney terminal on Wednesday, waiting to cross over to Newfoundland after ferry service was cancelled on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and Wednesday.
“It’s the time of year when you have to expect delays,” said Allain, who arrived in North Sydney Tuesday morning. “You can’t beat Mother Nature, she decides if you’re going to cross or not.”
High winds in the Cabot Strait are to blame for the disruption of ferry service over the past three days.
“Over the past three weeks we’ve had multiple storm systems that have moved through and they have shut us down for multiple days,” said Darrell Mercer, spokesperson for Marine Atlantic.
“The only benefit at this time of year is that traffic volumes are low from Christmas Day to Boxing Day, so we’re not seeing a lot of traffic build up at our terminal — as we get closer to New Year’s, we’re going to start to see that push again of commercial traffic.”
Last week, ferry service was disrupted on Wednesday and Thursday for holiday travelers hoping to arrive home in time for Christmas.
However, Marine Atlantic was successful in clearing the backlog of traffic, transporting 1,773 passengers, 661 passenger vehicles and 571 commercial vehicles over a 24-hour period, Friday and Saturday morning, before another weather system developed later in the day on Saturday, causing more disruptions in the company’s schedule.
As of Wednesday afternoon, 269 passengers and 60 commercial units were waiting at the Marine Atlantic terminal in North Sydney. Meanwhile, in Port aux Basques, 234 passengers and eight commercial vehicles were awaiting service to resume.
The company hopes to clear the current traffic backlog with its Thursday morning crossings. However, the company has issued a travel advisory, noting of a potential impact in crossings for Thursday because of high winds.
“Right now we’re in fairly good shape from a backlog in traffic, but that could change very quickly over the next couple of days, if we don’t get a break in the weather,” said Mercer.
Raymond Surette, a transport driver delivering supplies for Shoppers Drug Mart, has been waiting in North Sydney since Sunday night. He was scheduled for a Monday night crossing.
“When you’re in a winter storm you have to try to make it here and get to the other side, but we understand the reasons behind the cancellations,” said Surette, who’s been driving truck for 35 years. “It’s not that bad; if you have to wait, you have to wait, simple as that.”
“It won’t be the first time I’ll have to wait and it certainly won’t be the last time that we all have to wait — you have to go with the flow.”
Surette, who has two dropoffs in Newfoundland before heading back to Moncton, said most transport drivers understand the cancellations.
“Everybody is humble, we know that we can’t go across so all we can really do is watch television and sleep,” he said. “If I want to be home for the weekend I have to leave tomorrow (Thursday).”
Mercer said as of now the MV Blue Puttees and MV Highlanders ferries will provide the crossings when service resumes. However, depending on the traffic backlog, the company’s third vessel, MV Atlantic Vision, could also come into service, if needed.
As for Allain, who has stops in the Newfoundland communities of Pasadena, Deer Lake, and St. John’s, he expects to return home Sunday night, pending all goes as planned.
“It’s likely I’ll just get home and I’ll have to be back out on the road (for Newfoundland) on Monday,” said Allain. “It’s something we’ve been used to for the last five weeks.”