Transportation and Works
July 24, 2007

Province Moving Forward on Two New Ferries

The Honourable John Hickey, Minister of Transportation and Works, provided an update on the provincial Vessel Replacement Strategy today.

As part of its Vessel Replacement Strategy, the Williams Government announced in Budget 2007 that it will invest $15 million to begin construction of two new ferries here in this province this year. Design of both a small and a medium-sized vessel have been finalized by Poseidon Marine.

"The Department of Transportation and Works invited local shipyards to demonstrate to us they were qualified to build a small and a medium-sized ferry," said Minister Hickey.

"Three shipyards, Clarenville Drydock Limited, Peter Kiewit and Sons of Marystown and Glovertown Shipyard, responded to the request for pre-qualifications. Lloyd�s of London was engaged to undertake a review of the submissions and the department is continuing to consult with the shipyards before the pre-qualifying phase concludes. We anticipate we will be in a position to invite shipyards to give us price quotes on construction of the two new ferries by the end of August."

Both vessels will cost approximately $25 million and create approximately 330,000 person hours of employment. The Provincial Government also plans to build another three vessels over the next five years.

In addition to investing in ferry construction, in Budget 2007 the Williams Government injected $10.3 million for refits of government-owned ferry vessels and $5 million for maintenance and capital construction of terminals and wharfs. Also, as part of Budget 2007, the Provincial Government announced in March it will invest $1.5 million to reduce ferry rates, bringing them in line with road equivalency.

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Media contact:

David Salter
Director of Communications
Transportation and Works
709-729-3015, 691-3577

davidsalter@gov.nl.ca
 

2007 07 24                                                    11:40 a.m.

 


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