Back in service

Marine Atlantic ferry crossings resume Thursday night after high winds disrupted service

Marine Atlantic ferry service between Nova Scotia and Newfoundland was scheduled to resume its regular crossings, Thursday night.

Passengers and commercial vehicles were stranded at terminals in North Sydney and Port aux Basques, N.L., since Christmas Day after service was disrupted for three full days because of high winds in the Cabot Strait.

In a schedule change advisory Thursday morning, Marine Atlantic said Wednesday crossings for 11:45 a.m. and 11:45 p.m. were changed to 11:45 p.m. on Thursday.

An afternoon crossing from North Sydney was scheduled for Thursday, however, Marine Atlantic spokesperson Darrell Mercer confirmed in an email the crossing was cancelled because of weather conditions.

“The weather is going to improve in the afternoon and evening to allow us to resume sailings tonight (Thursday),” said Mercer.

Over the past three weeks, Marine Atlantic has been forced to cancel numerous crossings after multiple storm systems moved into the region.

Last week, ferry service was disrupted on Wednesday and Thursday for holiday travelers hoping to arrive home in time for Christmas.

Marine Atlantic was able to clear the traffic backlog from that disruption, transporting 1,773 passengers, 661 passenger vehicles and 571 commercial vehicles over a 24-hour period, Dec. 22 and Dec. 23, before another storm system developed, shutting service down until Thursday of this week.

As of Thursday morning, 441 passengers and 140 commercial units were scheduled to leave the North Sydney terminal for the night crossing. Meanwhile, in Port aux Basques, 433 passengers and 21 commercial units were waiting to arrive in Nova Scotia.

According to Environment Canada, winds in the Cabot Strait are expected to range between 18-27km/h this weekend, before picking up to 55km/h on New Year’s Day.

No travel advisories are currently issued for Marine Atlantic.