Marine Atlantic cancels 14 sailings, so far, this year
January hasn't been kind to Marine Atlantic. Since the new year began the ferry service has had to cancel 14 sailings.
High winds and rough seas have led to the cancellations.
Darrell Mercer speaks for Marine Atlantic.
"This January has been challenging for us. There have been a number of systems that have moved up through the eastern seaboard. It hasn't been a great start of the year and, from that perspective, we're challenged by some of the weather conditions," he said.
Some people have said the new ferries can't handle the weather in the Cabot Strait.
Mercer said that's not true.
"When we had the Caribou and Joseph and Clara Smallwood in service, those vessels would depart, they wouldn't always dock. So what we would be having happen is, what we call in the industry, 'jogging the coast,'" said Mercer.
"So the vessel would, for example, depart North Sydney, make it to Port aux Basques but wouldn't be able to dock because winds would be too high. So they would continue to go up and down the coast for hours until there would be a window that they could dock."
He said passengers complained about waiting hours off shore.
"A number of passengers would be upset and say, 'Why did you leave knowing that you may not be able to dock?' When you're going up and down the coast in those types of sea states for an extended period of time, it's quite uncomfortable for people not used to sailing."
Now the ferries only leave when their captains are reasonably sure they can dock on the other side.
Each ferry captain decides whether or not it's safe to leave port.
They consider things like sea conditions, weather forecasts and passenger comfort.
The cancellations aren't all bad though, says Kirk MacRae, who owns nine Subway restaurants — including the one next to the ferry terminal in North Sydney.
"Any time people get delayed over in the terminal, generally for their own sake, they try to go into the downtown so obviously they go by the store. We're the second store in from the terminal on commercial street. We do see an uptake in business, mostly every time there's a delay," he said.
Passengers using the ferry service on Tuesday were lucky, the winds were calm and the ferries were all running.
