MV Northumberland's arrival a step toward restoring ferry service's reliability, says Pictou mayor
In Pictou, N.S., the town's mayor watched as the MV Northumberland arrived in port on Sunday.
The new vessel will become the second permanent ship for Northumberland Ferries Limited when the sailing season begins later this year.
"Hopefully it's a step — a big step — toward restoring reliability to the ferry service," said Pictou Mayor Jim Rayan, who said 2024 was "absolutely the worst" he's seen in terms of ferry disruptions.
"The service itself was very unreliable and of course non-existent for weeks at a time."
The ferry service across the Northumberland Strait has been inconsistent since the MV Holiday Island had to be scrapped after a fire onboard in 2022.
That frequent interruptions have prompted concern from Canada's transport minister, Anita Anand, who has ordered an audit of Northumberland Ferries Limited.
Welcoming another vessel
MV Northumberland's arrival offers "some comfort for the coming season," said Blair Aitken, the president of the Eastern P.E.I. Chamber of Commerce.
"This is the same ferry that the chamber recommended purchase of back in 2016, and then again in 2022 when the Holiday Island had the fire and was out of service," Aitken said.
"We're excited to see the ferry finally arrive."
The addition of another vessel is welcome news to businesses like Morley Annear Limited, a trucking company in Montague that relies on the ferry service to transport goods to the mainland.
"I think eastern P.E.I. should be applauding that we're going to have a two-vessel operation again," said Scott Annear, the company's owner.
"It was crippling on this end of the Island."
Upcoming impact study
The Eastern P.E.I. Chamber of Commerce will be conducting an impact study to gather more information about how the ferry service affects local business, Aitken said.
"We've felt for some time as a chamber that we do not have enough information about the impact of the ferry service in eastern P.E.I. to the various industry sectors," he said.
"Without adequate information, we can't… make any demands for better support in the service. That's really what the impact study is going to do for us."
In Pictou, the mayor said anecdotal information suggests the ferry disruptions had effects on businesses in the area.
"There was no doubt, anecdotally, that it was creating an issue for some of our business owners," Rayan said.
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