The contract for the MV Apollo, which ran between Blanc Sablon and St. Barbe, expired this year. The province is looking into other companies and ships, but so far has made no announcement as to whether service will start on time April 1.
That has the St. Barbe Development Association extremely concerned, according to Association president Richard May. May said if there’s a new ferry service, there needs to be time to figure everything out.
“If they don’t have the time to learn, to get into a proper routine or schedule, once the tourist season starts there’ll be all kind of problems,” said May. “We don’t need to lose tour groups because the vessel isn’t running proper schedules or the logistics of loading a new boat haven’t been figured out yet.”
May said the crossing has become increasingly important over the years, particularly with the Muskrat Falls and Voisey’s Bay projects taking place.
“It’s vital to be able to move freight from one side to the other right now. It’s something that affects the whole province,” he said.
In St. Anthony, the local chamber of commerce recently discussed the issue at a meeting, and it’s also looking for answers.
“(A contract) is supposed to go into effect on April 1,” said chamber president Maurice Simmonds. “That’s a good date if the government is playing an April Fools joke on us — we’re hearing all kinds of rumours but we don’t know anything yet.”
He said a considerable number of Labrador residents cross over to shop and keep appointments at the local hospital, or just to visit family and friends.
“They dragged their heels in getting the contract out and giving contractors time to meet the specifications they’re looking for, and that’s unfortunate,” said Simmonds. “There are a lot of factors that affect our economy here. Wwith regard to the movement of goods and services and people, we have a close relationship with the people on the southern coast of Labrador, so this needs to be solved as soon as possible.”
The province issued a tender back in January, and so far only one company has reportedly placed a bid.
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