Yarmouth ferry will hurt seafood shipping industry, trucker says

A trucking company in southwestern Nova Scotia says theindustry will suffer because the new catamaran ferry that will run between Yarmouth and Portland, Maine, this summer won't take transport trucks.

Brian Reynolds, who owns Reynolds Trucking in Port La Tour, N.S.,says not being able to use the ferry will mean extra drivers and more operating costs for his business and the 25 othercompanies in the area who ship seafood to the U.S.

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Reynoldssays the province is ignoring the seafood industry's needsbut he's not surprised.

"I think [Bay Ferries president] MarkMacDonaldand our Minister [Geoff]MacLellanhad a real good deal there. We're talking $33 million for two years," he told CBC Halifax's Information Morning. "We'll see in two years if they got it right or wrong."

Bay Ferries Ltd. will be operating the ferry service with a former U.S. navy ship that's taking on a familiar name:the Cat. It'sthe same moniker for the previous ferry that ranto Maine before itstopped operating in 2009.

Last week the province announced it will spend $13 million onstartup costs andto retrofitthe new ferryplus an additional $19.6 million over two years to operate the Cat.

MacLellanhas said that the vessel can hold commercial trucks, but decided not to take them after city officials in Portland expressed concerns about more trucks on their streets.

Space on Bay of Fundy service limited

Part of the problem for the industry, Reynolds says, is theferry between Digby, N.S.,and Saint John, N.B.,usually can only hold a dozen commercial trucks, and there's frequently a waiting list so they're forced to drive around.

Reynolds says the spaces for a dozen tractor-trailers "disappear in a heartbeat" during the peak summer touristseason.

Earlier this year, Bay Ferries added extra sailing to deal with the traffic during lobster season and Reynolds says the industry will be pushing for that to happen again.

Last week the federal government announced $51.9million for ferry service in Atlantic Canada, which Reynolds says creates even less incentive for Bay Ferries to serve commercial customers.

"I don't think trucks mean much to them anymore," he said.

He also questions whether tourists will benefit from the high-speed ferry.

"My experience with tourists and the catamarans that they previously had there, most people I've talked to, some people, they've said they don't want to go back on it because they've come over and they're seasick coming over."