Labrador Marine overcoming 'teething pains' to improve ferry service, CEO says

A year after Labrador Marine took over ferry contracts serving theStraitof Belle Isle and the north coast, the operator is implementing changes to improve the way it moves freight and administers security.

it hasn't been a year of smooth sailing for the company, which runs two ferries the Kamutik W and the Qajak.

Peter Woodward, president and CEO of Labrador Marine, says the company hasidentified issues that affected service in 2019.

Chief among the problems plaguing company and customers alike was the movement of goods up through the Labrador coast, with crates of food spoiling en route late last year and protests brewing dockside over near-empty grocery shelves resulting from delays and cancellations.

Woodward said in the coming year, the company will be installing a tracking system to tell them where freight is at any given time.

They'll also improve how freight is delivered to each community."We're going to put container facilities on each port that will basically be there to shelter freight in the event people aren't available to pick it up when the vessel runs," Woodward said.

The Kamutik, however, still isn't carrying its full freight capacity of 900 tonnes, although it doubled its initial carriage over the course of the year, Woodward said.

He added these changes precede the company'sfirst meeting with northern communities, scheduled later this month.

"These are basically [issues] we recognized internally," he said.

Piloting simulations helping

The rough Labrador seas caused delays early on, forcing the company to reassess how both ferries were piloted.

Woodward said the infrastructure at St. Barbe, a location often exposed to high winds, often prevented the Qajaq from docking. The company renovated the dock to overcome those winds, he said.

The newer ferry, the Kamutik purchased from Norway and said to be built to withstand northern climates has absorbed criticism for its flat bottom.

"There were a lot of teething pains," he said.

"The manoeuvrability of the vessel is quite different than you would find in a conventionalvessel. But it'sa new modern way to do things."

He added the company has sent its crews to simulation training to get used to the new ship.

"But you'll never get the experience in a simulator that you'll get actually operating the vessel," he said. "Our crews are becoming far more familiar with the ships."

Airport-style bag screening possible

The operator attracted further criticism last year when crews searched a passenger bag on the Rigolet dock, prompting Torngat Mountains MHA Lela Evans to suggest customers on the largely Indigenous northern route were being treated differently and amounted to discrimination.

That search procured a container with rum, which Woodward said is not an uncommon discovery on the ship.

Nain Ferry Search

5 years ago

Duration 0:29

A Labrador Marine employee looks through a bag of a passenger on the dock in Nain.

"We have contractual obligations that prohibit alcohol consumption on the vessels," Woodward said. "We'vehad significant problems the past season. It's been somewhat embarrassing from the point of view of ourselves and passengers when it comes to trying to prohibit people from bringingalcohol, and consuming alcohol, on board."

The company is looking into airport-style screening technology to apply consistency to searches, he said.

Labrador Marine has the contract for the straitservice for the next 15 years, and the north coast contract for the next 12 years.

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