Councillor Tim Outhit released some renderings of the proposed electric Catamaran Fast Ferries, and the Proposed new Terminal at Mill Cove, which will also include a New Bedford Library and Community Space.
The City received some federal funding to do preliminary designs for the service, and with that work now complete, applications have been put in for additional funding for the project. The total estimated capital cost is 288 million, not including the Library portion of the new building.
The Project will also require a new Halifax Ferry Terminal Downtown.
The new passenger ferries will be electric, and there will be 3 routes – Shannon Park, Larry Uteck, and Millcove. The New ferries will not have an upper deck, but will have a covered outdoor space at stern, and additional space at the bow.
The Madeleine II passing East Point PEI, having sailed from Souris for Cap-aux-Meules, Iles de la Madeleines. The Ferry was built in Spain in 2018, and acquired by the feds for the service to replace the aging Madeleine.
M.V Confederation appears to be around out side the channel in Caribou NS. NFL has cancelled today’s sailings, citing a Technical Issue. It looks like Confederation left the channel after departing on the 8:30 am sailing to PEI, so presumably there are passengers aboard..
PEICanada.com has details from a passenger. the plan sounds like they will attempt to back off the sandbar at 5pm, the next high tide.
Photo from Oct 2022. Confederation Entering Caribou Ferry terminal. Its a tight channel.
UPDATE: the Confederation was floated off the sandbar on the high tide just before 5pm, and returned to Caribou. A Statement from NFL indicated the boat suffered a steering failure, that led to the grounding. the steering was able to be repaired while the ship was grounded.
Sailings on Monday were also cancelled, citing a technical issue
Photo Greg Britton via FB Nova Scotia fire /Emergency/Info
The Northumberland ferry Holiday Island is on fire at Wood Island PEI. The ferry crosses between NS and PEI, and was bound for PEI when the fire broke out.
The Holiday Island is a double ended (double pilot house) passenger and vehicle ferry built in 1971 at Port Weller Dry Dock, St. Catherines, Ontario for Canadian National Railways. The vessel was designed to service the Cape Tormentine, NB to Borden, PEI crossing prior to construction of the confederation bridge.
The 51 years old vessel is now owned by Transport Canada and operated by Bay Ferries Ltd and services the Caribou, Nova Scotia to Wood Island, PEI crossing. The vessel operates eight months of the year from May to December.
A replacement was included in the 2019 federal budget.
MarineTraffic seem to show the vessel was on the NS – PEI leg of the trip, and is stopped outside the harbour. Reports from facebook are that lifeboats are being deployed. given the ship is outside the harbour, it suggests the fire is in a machinery space, as opposed to a car – if it was a car, docking the ship and gaining access to shore based resources would be smart.
Given the ferries location, I’m going to guess they ran it aground. Given the drive arrangement, that means the hull is probably compromised.
Photos posted to facebook shows Marine Evacuation System deployed. This system was installed in 2020, and replaced open air lifeboats. once in the raft passengers were taken ashore by local fishing vessels. The MES is basically a airplane style evacuation slide with a large detachable raft at the end. the raft can then be moved away from the vessel with the ships FRC.
Photo Jonathan Jessome via FB Nova Scotia fire /Emergency/Info
Yesterday the Holiday Island suffered a technical issue that delayed sailings.
Temperatures today are 28, with 74% humidity. Humidex of 38. Fun day to fight a fire.
Update via the CBC: The FIRE IS OUT and there are no injuries according to Don Cormier at Northumberland Ferries.
This is now a salvage operation.
UPDATE 07/22 1332: JRCC Halifax has issued a series of tweets. “At 11:17 am, JRCC Halifax received a distress call indicating that the Northumberland Ferry “Holiday Island” suffered a fire in their engine room and subsequently ran aground. Search and Rescue aircraft from 14 Wing Greenwood, and Canadian Coast Guard Vessels are on scene and have safely disembarked 182 passengers. 18 Crew and 7 local firefighters remain on board to fight the fire. Local fire, police & paramedics are on scene. As all passengers have been taken ashore, local authorities and the ferry operators are responsible for any updates. SAR assets will remain in place to assist if required.”
A CCGS Fast Rescue Craft and an RCAF C130 were noted to be in the area.
UPDATE 07/22 1945 : It looks like the Holiday island has ungrounded itself. There were likely tugs in assistance, just not visible on AIS. This is good, as it suggests my damage assessment from the grounding was overly pessimistic.
The other ferry on the run, Confederation has also made it to Wood Islands.
The Coast Guard has tweeted about this.
UPDATE 07/22 21:40: just saw a reddit post suggesting the boat was on fire again as of 19:00. zooming in it looks like a more smoke then running the engine and another comment suggesting the vessel was still on fire at 18:00, and a helicopter was sling loading equipment to the ship.
CBC reporter noted at 17:45 the NFL clarified that the fire was contained, but not out.
UPDATE 07/23 00:22: Tug Svitzer Bedford looks to have sailed from Point Tupper around 10pm.
UPDATE 07/23 0140: someone near the ship tells me that the ship is still grounded, and firefighters have been withdrawn due to safety concerns. Svitzer Bedford is almost on scene, and is equipped with fire monitors, so they may be transitioning to an external attack.
UPDATE 07/23 1300:
Photo posted at CBC from this AM.
the ferry was moved pulled by a tug to deeper water last night on the high tide to enable the confederation to operate. NFL has cancelled service for Sunday, and is not taking further reservations. In a statement, they confirmed that the ferry is still on fire, and that firefighters were removed from the ship at 9:30 last night. They also confirmed that an environmental response team is standing by. the release also included the line “It is uncertain at this time if we will be able to recover vehicles and return them to their owners. ” – which suggests they are planning for the loss of the vessel.
CCGS photo tweeted by TC.
UPDATE 07/23 1400: My Guess is the ship may have used a CO2 extinguishing system to flood the engine room and put out the fire. They work great, but you need to keep the space closed and full of CO2 untill things can cool down, or you can have a rekindle.
The txt below was sent to passengers this morning.
UPDATE 07/23 1715: Latest from NFL.
The fire is still burning. “The tug Svitzer Bedford, which has some firefighting capability, has been able to apply some boundary cooling to the sides of the ship and car decks. The environmental response organization, ECRC, has been able to deploy a boom around the ship as a precautionary measure.”
“the current plan under consideration would be to tow the ship into Wood Islands harbour during high tide with two tugs and to secure the ship in berth. Once secured in berth, firefighting crews would attempt to finally extinguish the fire.” This is a sound and reasonable plan. Putting out the fire will be much easier if the ship is at the dock, and crews have easy access with hoses and equipment. The Next high tide is at 8:01 tonight, followed by 7:01 tomorrow morning.
Holiday Island was carrying 83 vehicles on the two car decks of the ship. NFL noted a lack of rental cars and hotel rooms complicating passenger accommodation.
UPDATE 07/23 20:50:
The coast guard released some imagery of boundary cooling being applied – the Holiday Island also has a noticeable list. The ship was not moved to the pier on this evenings high tide.
CCGS M.Pearley, a fisheries sciance vessel, and CCGS Cap Spray, a 45’MLB are on scene
UPDATE 07/24 1000: the CCGS Molly Kool is now on scene. Statement from NFL. the fire looks to be out, and the ship was moved alongside on the high tide this morning.
UPDATE 1545: Vehicles are now rolling off the ship. some required tow assistance.
UPDATE 07/25 1440: Ferry service remains suspended. NFL hopes to resume service with MV Confederation on Wednesday, the 27th. Confederation will do 4 round trips/day Departing Wood Islands: 07:00, 10:00, 13:30, 17:00 and Departing Caribou: 08:30, 11:45, 15:15, 18:30”
A Norwegian Ferry showed up at Pier 9 yesterday. the SVANØY was brought over from Ålesund Norway by Logistec, and will be chartered to Société des traversiers du Québec (STQ) to cover for STQ ferries crossing the St. Lawrence river. STQ has an option to retain the ferry for 2023 as well. The ferry will be used on the Isle-aux-Coudres Crossing.
this afternoon on the evening commute, a 31y/o male went into the water from the ferry Vincent Coleman around 5:30pm, mid harbour on the Dartmouth to Halifax run. the ferry crew was able to quickly recover him, and returned to Alderney landing, where he was checked over by EHS.
video posted to Youtube of the rescue.
Police later issued a release stating that alcohol may have been a factor, and no significant injuries were reported. Water temperatures in the harbour are around 13 degrees – about the same as the air today.
Arrow is a RO-RO vessel bound for the Isle of WrightBunkeringBBC Eagle Loading YachtsP&O Channel FerriesFerry to the isle of WrightAdmiralty Pilot BoatSerco Tugs – Serco is a private defense industry service provider.Serco crew boatClipper Round the World Yachts
The Dartmouth Ferry Christopher Stannix is going in for its 5 year refit. The city issued the tender today. The Christopher Stannix entered service in 2014, and is the first of the 5 newbuilds.
The scope of work is mostly Painting and General repair work plus inspections. there are also a few modifications to match features of the newer boats. Of particular interest to users – The back angle on the benches is being fixed, so they will not so reclined
New fender, shown in green
Interestingly, An additional fender is being added, which requires removing some ballast. the current ballast consists of 273 concrete blocks (2.19 MT) held in place with ratchet straps. and must be reduced to 181 concrete blocks (1.45 MT)
