CORNER BROOK — With all crossings cancelled until at least Sunday night, Marine Atlantic is moving its vessels into port in Port aux Basques and North Sydney to ride out hurricane Fiona.
Darrell Mercer, corporate communications, said the plan is to place two ferries in each of the ports.
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The MV Atlantic Vision arrived in North Sydney Friday morning from Argentia and the MV Highlanders was to depart Port aux Basques at 11:45 a.m. and travel to North Sydney.
The MV Blue Puttees was to leave North Sydney at 12:15 p.m. en route for Port aux Basques where it will be tied up along with the MV Leif Ericson.
“We’re going to be losing a number of sailings this weekend, we expect there’s going to be significant demand next week to travel, especially from a commercial perspective. So, having two vessels in each port will allow us to resume operations fairly quickly and move as much traffic as we can fairly quickly,” said Mercer.
To secure the vessels Marine Atlantic will utilize the automated mooring systems in each of the ports along with extra mooring lines.
“We’ve been through hurricanes, obviously, and significant windstorms and we take the necessary preparations in advance to try to secure everything onboard the vessel," said Mercer.
Maintenance teams have enacted plans on the vessels and in the terminals to ensure that anything that could be loose is secured and won’t get caught in the wind and blow around.
Mercer said the more concerning aspect, particularly in Port aux Basques is the storm surge.
There are drainage systems in place and crews have been ensuring that they’re working properly.
Mercer said they hope the breakwaters will do their job.
“But it’s unpredictable at this point in time because the forecasters are saying that this could be a storm that we haven’t seen in quite some time," he said.
From a safety perspective the vessels have to be staffed at all times, so staff on the vessels will remain in place throughout the storm and more can be brought in if needed.
“Every single member of our crew has a specific safety job to do on the vessel,” said Mercer.
The terminals will also be staffed and remain open.
“We’re hoping that with all of the preventative maintenance that we’ve enacted over the last couple of days that we’re ready to deal with the storm, but, obviously, there’s always going to be some uncertainty and that’s why we’re going to try to be prepared as best we can to deal with any uncertainties that come our way.”
Mercer said the captains will be monitoring the forecasts to determine when to restart. While winds may die out by Sunday evening the challenge becomes the sea state.
“When we’re looking at some areas up to 13 metre seas it’s going to take quite some time for those seas to settle,” said Mercer.
“From a passenger comfort and safety perspective, while the vessels may be able to go out in those conditions the passenger comfort level would be very poor.”
Mercer said the captains will balance it to when they feel the sea states will be calm enough to allow the vessels to cross.
Updates on crossings will be posted to marineatlantic.ca.
