ST. JOHN’S (Nov. 24, 2004) — After months of strife between Marine Atlantic and some of its customers, the federal government has announced it is stepping in and will review the operations of the Port Aux Basques-North Sydney ferry service.

The St. John’s Telegram reports that an advisory committee has been appointed by Transport Canada to examine the future of the service, and whether a private company could take on some of the workload.

Focusing on a number of areas — including fleet, financial needs, quality of service, and long-term funding and pricing plans — the group will try to identify strategies for stabilizing the company’s ferry service operations, which are required under the Constitution, Transport Minister Jean-C. Lapierre said.

As Today’s Trucking first reported in October, conflict between the company and regional drivers and owner-operators over capacity issues and loading procedures seems to have intensified in recent months.

Several such incidents — including the ban of a Bonavista Bay trucker who incited a 70-trucker protest at Marine Atlantic’s North Sydney terminal — led to a meeting between the ferry, the Owner-Operators’ Business Association of Canada, and its Newfoundland caucus, the Newfoundland & Labrador Independent Truckers Association.

After the meeting, Marine Atlantic President and CEO Roger Flood acknowledged some of the problems, and pledged the company will work with the trucking groups and other independent drivers to solve them.

Still, some truckers aren’t convinced passage across the Cabot Strait will be any smoother in the near future. Many drivers still complain they are routinely bumped off the ferry in favour of passenger cars and drop-trailers. Although drivers can buy confirmed space, the fare jumps to about $900 — nearly double the cost of a normal crossing.

Ed Pike, a Newfoundland-based owner-operator who crosses the Cabot Strait every week, claims he loses up to six weeks a year waiting at Marine Atlantic’s terminals. “This situation has been going on for years,” he told Today’s Trucking recently. “And it just keeps getting worse.”

— With files from the St. John’s Telegram