More ferry rambling

As there is not much in ship movements at this time, I'll keep rambling about our ferries for a bit and sharing my perspective.  First of all I'm wondering as to why there is no spare ship on the Digby-Saint John route while the ship is undergoing inspection, maintenance and bow thruster repairs?  The last time we had a temporary ship was in the early 2000's if I recall correctly and the ship would have been the MV Sir Robert Bond (yes, she did replace the Princess a time or two).  During the Marine Atlantic years, the MV Bluenose was the temporary replacement until refit work was completed.  As to a permanent solution (involving replacements), a new ship specifically designed (built in Canada or abroad) is looking very grim and we are perhaps looking at a chartered ship in the near future.  Either way, here's my thoughts on replacement ships including a few from our existing ferry fleet.

                 Figure 1: a purpose-built ship.

The best solution without any modifications to docks and terminals.  Greener technologies would be required but should still be as reliable as the service has been in the past (currently starting to wonder if more mechanical problems would arise with current ship in the immediate future).  Expect teething problems upon initial start up.  Only downside, it may take a few years to design, build and contract a shipyard to build the ship.

           Figure 2: MV Confederation deployment (or single-ended version)

Another good solution for the ferry service in my opinion would be to deploy the MV Confederation (22 years newer) on the route.  She could hold a few more vehicles and tractor trailers than the current ship.  Modifications to the ship would include inner bow doors for improved safety during longer voyages (3 hours compared to 1 hour 15 minutes) and on shore would be for walk on passengers boarding either through vehicle ramp or shuttle bus.  The dock in Saint John may need to be dredged to accomodate the ship at low tide.

      Figure 3: Stena Ro/Ro-Marine Atlantic seabridger class (MV Blue Puttees pictured)

A bit too big for the run at 199.5 meters, but very fuel efficient and newer technologies involved in the seabridger vessels.  In my opinion, they may be stopped more frequently on the gulf crossing, however, they maybe could be more adaptable to the conditions on the Bay of Fundy and quite possibly more at sea than dockside if deployed.  One downside, I do not know if Marine Atlantic has the option to purchase one out of the two and I don't believe Marine Atlantic is in the business of chartering vessels to the private sector, but one can only dream about it!  (these ships has been heavily criticized since their introduction and are being judged early by many people I honestly do not dislike the ships as, in my opinion, these vessels do work in theory).  If such ship were deployed, modifications would include the lower vehicle ramp and axe the top ramps at the bow and stern (both can easily be loaded by a loading ramp at the stern between deck 5 and deck 3.  Either lenghten both piers or anchor mooring bouys and dredging required at the pier in Saint John to accomodate the ship at low tide.

      Figure 4: Marine Atlantic Gulfspan class (both have since been sold for scrap)

This Idea was brought up by a Saint John Member of Parliament back in 2010 and, to me, would simply not work.  Ever since they were retired, speculation was that the MV Caribou would be deployed to run between Digby and Saint John.  To me, I knew it was a lot of bunk.  These ships were less fuel efficient than MV Princess of Acadia and  fares would skyrocket if such ship would have been deployed.  A heck of a lot of dredging would have occured at the Saint John pier as the vessels' draft would be close to seven meters (depth at low tide in Saint John is close to 4 meters at the shore ramp) as well as bi-level ramps installed in Digby and Saint John. Case in point: it would not have been economically (or financially) viable to have one of these ships deployed here and don't know how such rumor materialized. 

These are just my opinions on the subject of a Digby-Saint John ferry replacement (including a few of our existing and past East Coast ferry fleet if deployed), whether or not any of these scenarios above would happen we will eventually know over time.