PORT AUX BASQUES — Marine Atlantic is working on a contingency plan to accommodate traffic during the busy the Labour Day weekend in the event an attempt to fix one of its ferries fails.
The MV Highlanders Marine Atlantic ferry has been undergoing repairs for the past week after a generator failure, which boils down to a calibration issue with a breaker, according to Darrell Mercer, communications officer with Marine Atlantic.
He said a technician was being brought in Wednesday afternoon and if that person has success in the next little while, they would get the vessel back into service before the weekend.
It's estimated the calibration could take from 15 minutes to 15 hours and its hoped the situation can be rectified.
However, Marine Atlantic wants to have measures in place in the event that everything doesn't go as planned.
Mercer said to assure clients are accommodated, Marine Atlantic would be modifying its schedule and possibly put on an extra crossing to transport more
"We would like to get passengers and commercial clients on as close as possible to their original sailing time," he said.
Mercer said there will be limited openings for people who have not already booked, so customers should go onto Marine Atlantic's website and try to book through there if they're looking at travelling this weekend.
Ultimately the schedule will be modified on a day-to-day basis, depending on when they get the MV Highlanders back in service.
Marine Atlantic operates a year-round ferry service between the island of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia from Port aux Basques to North Sydney and a summer schedule from June to September between Argentia and North Sydney.
The Marine Atlantic fleet consists of four vessels, with three of them — the MV Puttees, the MV Highlanders and the MV Atlantic Vision carrying passengers and commercial; and the MV Leif Ericson which is dedicated solely to commercial traffic.
Mercer said Marine Atlantic is working as best it can to see that everyone's needs are accommodated.
