'Send her to the scrapyard,' expert says as NFL pledges ferry will be back in service by Saturday

It is past time for the federal government to consider replacing MV Confederation, the interprovincial ferry that broke down on Sunday for the third time in a month, says John Dalziel, a naval architect and adjunct engineering professor at Dalhousie University.

Northumberland Ferries cancelled Monday's sailings between Wood Islands, P.E.I., and Caribou, N.S. due to "a further mechanical issue that resulted in a service disruption," the company said Monday.

"An attempt to resolve the issue was not successful.However, the required parts areenroute and repairs will be completed as quickly as possible once the parts are onsite," a news release said, adding that the companyexpects service to resume no later than Saturday, July 8.

MV Confederation is currently the only ferry available for the Northumberland Strait route, at the height of the region's summer tourism season.

The 50-year-old Holiday Island caught fire last summer and has since been scrapped. Its interim replacement, MV Saaremaa, is in dry dock and not due to arrive until mid-July. Confederation was out of service due to technical problems for a day on June 4 and for two weeks starting June 17. It ran for just a day and a half before breaking down again Sunday.

MV Confederation was launched in 1993. Speaking to CBC News on Thursday, before the weekend breakdown,Dalziel said in most countries, its time on the water would be considered done.

"Generally when a ship is 30 years old, it's ready to be retired," he said."Take some nice pictures of the ship, take some mementos if you want, ship's bell and some other things, and send her to the scrapyard. That's where, quite frankly, a ship of that age should go."

The ferry was out for two weeks because the part needed to fix it, for the port engine main coupling, had to be specially manufactured in Europe. Sunday's problem involved the starboard engine coupling, Northumberland Ferries said.

'Vital link'

The lack of reliability in the ferry service is a source of growing alarm for tourism operators, trucking companies, and politicians both in eastern P.E.I. and on the north shore of Nova Scotia.

"The ferry service between Wood Islands and Caribou is a vital link between the provinces," said Pictou Mayor Jim Ryan.

"We're behind the 8 ball now, really, in the sense that we actually should be looking at replacing the Confederation."

Ryan is concerned that as the service becomes less reliable, people may start to give up on using it entirely.

MV Holiday Island was scheduled for replacement even before fire ended its career last summer.

Although the NFL is responsible for running costs and upkeep of the ferries, they're ownedby the federal government.

The federal budget in 2019 announced a new ferry that would be ready to sail in 2027. Last month the government announced that launch had been put off a year.

"Nine years, I think, is totally out of line," said Dalziel about the time to design and build the new ferry.

Five years is a more reasonable timeline for the project, he said, adding that the government needs to get a better handle on the construction and dealing with the inevitable problems that come with building a new ship.