MHA says his concerns unheeded in Burry’s decision
Party bickering had no sway in shipyard contract cancellation: minister
As Burry’s Shipyard works through insolvency, Terra Nova MHA Colin Holloway worries his warnings were ignored by the Department of Transportation and Works.
After an accident at the Burry’s Shipyard docks caused damage to a marine railway in September 2017, the provincial government canceled a $1.7-million contract for the refit of the MV Gallipoli, which typically services routes on the south coast of the island. The contract was rescinded in May 2018.
In an email on May 16, Holloway warned Transportation and Works Minister Steve Crocker that going back on the contract could be the final straw that sends Burry’s into bankruptcy.
“The cancellation of this contract with Burry’s Shipyard will have dire consequences for the owners and his 150 employees,” reads the email, obtained through access to information.
“Mr. Burry has stated to me that the cancellation of this contract will likely result in a closure of his family’s 125-year-old business.”
Crocker, responding to the email, appears to dismiss Holloway’s concerns outright.
“With regards to your claim that Burry’s Shipyard will go out of business as a result of its contract with government being cancelled, as you are well aware government has already paid $1.8 million to Burry’s on an original contract value of $1.7 million,” wrote Crocker.
“Based on these payments, any claim that cancelling this contract will solely result in the closure of Burry’s Shipyard is completely without merit.”
Holloway says he was proven to be correct, in the end.
“I don’t think anybody took my concerns and what I saw as the consequences seriously,” said Holloway, in an interview.
“From a personal perspective, I think the department was given some bad advice. It was taken, but it was wrong advice. Whether it was from staff that was working on the site, or staff that were distant from the site and having some influence. I think that’s what it came down to. Bad advice.”
Crocker doubled down on his department’s assessment of the situation when contacted by The Telegram.
“It was a $1.7-million contract, we paid them $2.2 million. The reality is without this incident that vessel would have left Burry’s dock somewhere in late March or early April,” said Crocker.
“The vessel was scheduled to come out I think around the end of March, the first week of April, so, again, how would that affect the future of the shipyard in that manner that we’re causing this company financial hardship, where actually we gave them more business than we even expected to give them.”
Holloway is one of the MHAS who filed complaints against former Liberal cabinet ministers Eddie Joyce and Dale Kirby earlier this year. Holloway says he hopes that situation did not affect his concerns over Burry’s being dismissed.
“I’d like to think that’s not the case. I certainly have no proof that that’s a discussion that’s going on without me in the room because of what else has been going on within caucus or within the House of Assembly,” said Holloway.
Crocker dismissed the notion outright.
“Absolutely not. We just needed to be clear, as a department, that the move we were making was based in fact, not based in anything other than that,” said Crocker.
“Again, we had two independent assessments. We had a situation where we had a vessel that was in limbo and having a vessel in limbo left us with the communities in limbo. And we needed to get the answers, we needed to get the vessels back in service as quickly as possible.”
With the Marystown shipyard still working towards a deal and Burry’s out of commission for now, Newdock in St. John’s — owned by now Liberal candidate for Windsor Lake Paul Antle — has become the only shipyard in the province capable of working on ferries for government. Crocker says it’s unfortunate to have a monopoly in the province, but at this point it’s out of government’s hands.
“Competition is always really good to have and we would encourage that and I would hope that we would have more than one shipyard in the province as we go forward,” said Crocker.
“With that being said, we can’t control those things. Our tenders when they go out are open to bid by people from other provinces.”
Burry’s will be back in court in September to outline its next steps in the insolvency process.