Port aux Basques -
Marine Atlantic is getting back on track after last week's storms.
Tara Laing, communications officer with the Crown corporation, said bad weather stopped the ferry across the Gulf of St. Lawrence from Thursday until Sunday.
The "extended weather event" with high winds and a created a huge backlog of traffic.
The backlog has been cleared on the Port aux Basques side, but there were 180 trucking units left at the North Sydney terminal as of press time.
The MV Atlantic Vision, MV Caribou and MV Leif Ericson were working to clear the traffic, which had been backed up 100-deep outside the parking lot in North Sydney. A system of numbering trucks, allowing them to leave and calling them back when the opportunity for a space on the parking lot arose was activated as traffic backed up onto the road in Nova Scotia. That system wasn't necessary as of press time.
"We're getting back to normal - starting to," Laing said.|
Normal check in times for passengers started to resume Wednesday. The weather system that brought winds and rain to much of the west coast Wednesday didn't affect Marine Atlantic, the Straits ferry was a different story.
Lost a day
Dave Layden, terminal manager for Labrador Marine, said the MV Apollo lost the better part of a sailing day Wednesday.
The ferry was scheduled to leave Blanc Sablon 10:30 a.m. and St. Barbe at 1 p.m. It was rescheduled to leave St. Barbe at 5 p.m. and Blanc Sablon at 6:30 p.m. At 5 p.m. the winds were too high for the vessel to leave port.
Layden was hopeful the backlog would be cleared up today.
"Last night (Tuesday) we made an extra crossing from Blanc Sablon to get back on the other side because the winds were not favourable to stay tied up there," Layden said. "It's got to do with wind direction. If we happen to par the line, we're going straight over on the other dock and that's the end of that."
When high winds are predicted from a southerly direction the Apollo docks in St. Barbe and waits until it's clear.
"If we get one trip in (Wednesday), we'll consider ourselves lucky and pick up the slack (today)."
Several schools were closed for all or part of the day on the Northern Peninsula. Schools in St. Lunaire-Griquet, Mary's Harbour and Williams Harbour were closed for the day. In St. Anthony, Red Bay and St. Lewis they were closed for the morning. In Cook's Harbour school was closed in the afternoon.
There were delayed opening of schools in Roddickton and Conche.
The Department of Transportation and Works website showed highway conditions on the Northern Peninsula as good in all area, with slush and heavy, wet snow reported from Plum Point to the Roddickton intersection and drifting in open areas from the Roddickton Intersection to St. Anthony Airport.
